Glossary comparison
Device driver vs Firmware: what is the difference?
The difference
Firmware runs on the device or its embedded processor. A driver runs on the host processor and talks to the device, sometimes loading its firmware during start-up.
A driver runs inside the host's operating system and talks to a device; firmware runs on the device itself. Many devices need both.
The two terms
Device driver
Software that manages a specific hardware block, translating generic operating system or framework calls into register writes, DMA setup and interrupt handling.
Firmware
Software held in non-volatile memory on a device and executed directly by its processor or microcontroller, providing the lowest layer of control over the hardware.
Side by side
| Field | Device driver | Firmware |
|---|---|---|
| Stands for | Not an abbreviation | Not an abbreviation |
| Type | Term | Term |
| Domain | Embedded Software & Tools | Embedded Software & Tools |
| Group | Middleware and stacks | Firmware and boot |