Topic: Help wanted II

[TR]

Whats the difference in Device Driver and a Firmware Driver.


Just wanted to know before I upload the latest drivers for my liteon 40x12x48.


Hookstar  8)

Bet that had you worried  

[Sandra]

Putting it simply Hooky its this :

What?s a Device Driver ?
Device driver is the software that controls a hardware component or peripheral device of a computer, such as a magnetic disk, magnetic tape or printer. A device driver is responsible for accessing the hardware registers of the device and often includes an interrupt handler to service interrupts generated by the device. Device drivers often form part of the lowest level of the operating system kernel, with which they are linked when the kernel is built. Some more recent systems have loadable device drivers which can be installed from files after the operating system is running.
 
What?s Firmware ?
The software stored in read-only memory (ROM) or programmable ROM (PROM). As a result, most firmware cannot be modified after an installation. Firmware is often responsible for the behaviors of a hardware system. It could be a special program code part of an operating system or a compiler. A typical example would be a Machine Language program stored in a ROM for CPU or microprocessor to access it even after a reboot.  

Clear as mud isnt it  
Found it here for you so dont ask me to explain it  

http://www.liteon.com/prod/getDriver.do?xml_id=4_4

[Simon]

I think you'll find that a Device Driver is what your PC uses to work the component, and Firmware is what's in the chip that actually works the component itself, although I can't say I've actually heard of a Firmware Driver.  It's just Firmware as far as I was aware, unless this is a trick question.

One of the techies might be able to explain it better.


Edit: Sandra beat me to it!  Is that 5?  

[TR]

Thanks Guys   clear as mud

Anyway I have now flashed an updated firmware to my Liteon 40x12x48 and it still works  

before I flashed   it was only showing as CD Rom drive now its showing the full name and numbers.

Hook

[TR]

Sorry , that picture dint come out very well  >

Here's anover

[Simon]

So, do you think that was the problem all along?

[TR]

No Simon this just helped me to have the proper name shown in the system, if you remember it was a setting in XP

This was the original thread >>> http://pc-pals.com/index.php?board=29;action=display;threadid=8295;start=60

[Simon]

Ah yes.  

[ketamininja]

Late as ever... since its clear as mud, maybe I can clarify more?? Maybe not:

Driver. This is the intruction manual for your OS. Without the driver, the OS has no idea on how to operate s specific piece of hardware. You can see why driver updates are important - a new section may be added to the "manual" so that the OS can work better with the device.

Firmware. This is the on-board instruction manual for the device. Essentially it is also an instruction manual for your BIOS and any testing equipment. Without this, your PC wouldn't even know what the device is!

So you do need both of course.
The idea of Firmware may become clearer if you imagine that your Digital TV receiver, mobile phone, microwave, and lots of other things have it. Of course, they don't require "drivers", because there is no "3rd party" manipulating the device.

[Simon]

Well put, K!