Is firmware the same thing as drivers?

[jaffa]

I often hear people recommend their friends, who have hardware/software problem to visit the manufacturers website and download the lastest drivers or firmware.

These two notions seem to be used interchangeably so I just wonder if firmware and drivers really are two different words for the same thing or if there is an a real difference. In the last case, which are the differences in general?

 

[JBT]

No they are different. The firmware is similar to a BIOS for a specific peice of hard ware. Basically it controls the basic functions of the hardware. The drivers are for telling windows how to "drive/control" that peice of hardware

 

[BlueWeasel]

Firmware deals entirely with the operating parameters of hardware, while drivers consist of software that allow the hardware to work with your computer. Firmware typically only involves the hardware, while drivers involve the operating system.

They are both completely different, but similar in nature if that makes sense.

For example, assume you have a video card and a set of the latest firmware and drivers. You would upgrade the firmware on the video card to fix bugs or add new features for the hardware. You would install drivers on your operating system in order to get the video card to work properly and take advantage of the features of the video card.

Firmware = Hardware, Drivers = Software

 

[Allio]

Yep. Firmware is stored in (usually) flash memory on the device itself, so it's the same on any PC you use the device with. Drivers are simply software for the operating system and are specific to your OS install.

 

[Tom]

yea, and it's called firmware because it stays resident in the memory Allio mentioned, hence it is "firm", as opposed to drivers, which are software, which means they have to be loaded into the computers memory every time you start your computer.