Device Management
Computer Science: OCR GCSE, topic 1.5.7
Device Management
The operating system must be able to manage external hardware.
Purpose of device manager
- The device manager keeps track of which devices are connected to which ports.
- The device manager also allows applications to read or write data to each device.
Examples of peripheral devices
- Examples of devices that the device manager manages are:
- Keyboard.
- Mouse.
- Printer.
- Webcam.
Device drivers
- The device manager works closely with special system software called device drivers.
- Device drivers contain software that tell the operating system how to understand the data coming from the device and what format it expects to receive data in.
Test yourself on Device Management
What is the purpose of device drivers?