6.1.5 Explain the role of the operating system in terms of managing memory, peripherals and hardware interfaces
- Acts as an interface between the hardware and the program requesting input and output(Windows Vista and Apple OSX)
- Responsible for sharing input and output using the CPU
- controls what files are saved in the backing store and controls peripherals (scanners, printers)
- transfer of programs in and out of memory
- organises use of memory
- deals with processing time between programs and users
- security and access rights of users
- takes care of errors and instructions
Device Driver
A Device driver is a program that controls a particular device in your computer. It is a software that connects to the hardware and allow the operating system and other programs to access the hardware. They usually communicate with the hardware threw buses. Every external hardware needs a device driver so that the computer can communicate with it, for example printers, scanners, storage device, external keyboards etc.