stupid question

What is the difference between drivers and firmware?

[Jerry K]

Originally Posted by drivers

What is the difference between drivers and firmware?

Drivers are software that makes a piece of hardware operate properly in a specific os. Most drivers are operating system specific, eg: Windows 9x drivers won't work usually in Windows XP. However, many manufacturer's are now writing one driver that works in all Windows os's.

Firmware is software code usually planted into a internal storage device (eg: eprom or or similiar programmable chip) that is used/read internally by the device.

Example: Many digital camera's have firmware which is responsible for the menu you see on the lcd screen that allows you to set certain options for the camera.
A typical task for firmware in camera's would be to turn the camera off after a certain period of inactivity to save battery consumption amongst other tasks.

CD-RW, DVD, CD-ROM drives usually contain firmware which is used internally by the drive to control certain features or provide improvements to certain features not installed originally by the manufacturer or to fix problem issue's or incompatibilities not known at time of manufacture.

Both firmware updates and driver updates are commonly issued by most hardware manufacturer's as demand arises. Then again before a device can be flashed with firmware, it must contain a flashable chip... some are not and require replacement of the firmware chip programmed with the new code. Not an easy task for the average home user.

Note: Firmware updates should not be done just because one is available. It should only be done to address a specific problem. Driver updates on the other hand usually are ok and should be done anytime one is avialable.

Firmware updates, if incorrectly applied or the wrong update is applied, can render the hardware device dead and useless and can result in return to the manufacturer to repair as the only way to get it going again. This can be expensive.