Drivers are a type of software that is necessary in order to be able to print things – or for the printer and computer to be able to interact with each other. This is true for all brands and all models – an HP printer still needs drivers to interact with an HP computer. The driver is stored or installed on the computer rather than the printer, and provides a guided protocol that allows the computer to ‘translate’ instructions to something the printer can print.
Technipages Explains Printer Driver
Print drivers are not the same as print spoolers, which are responsible for sending and queuing the different print jobs before sending them one by one. The purpose of the driver is similar to that of an interpreter – it allows two fundamentally different and otherwise incompatible devices to communicate. Having outdated or no drivers can mean that a printer won’t work as expected or not be recognised by the computer at all.
For this reason, it’s important for a driver to always be up to date, otherwise printing just may not work. Drivers are specific to a brand and model (or group of models, such as very similar machines) and the operating system of a computer. This means that the same printer needs three different drivers in order to work with a Unix, Windows and Mac computer.
Previously, printer drivers often came shipped with a CD or DVD packed with the printer, while now they are generally available via download, or can be installed via USB connection from the printer itself.
Common Uses of Printer Driver
- Printer drivers are a type of software responsible for facilitating the communication between a computer and a printer.
- Without the correct printer drivers, print jobs are likely to not work correctly if at all.
- Printer drivers are created and published by the creator of the printer, for each available operating system (or at least the most common ones.
Common Misuses of Printer Driver
- Printer drivers govern the communication between printers and computers and take care of lining up print jobs.
