What is a driver, from a computer standpoint? Ex: Why does a printer need a specific driver? Is there no standard?

Question

Last night, I tried to set up an older printer to a new laptop, but I kept running into driver issues. I’ve always dealt with that, but never understood what it was and why it was necessary.

In: 13

Answer 1

Every printer talks its own language. A driver is a translator that gives applications that want to interact with printers a common way to talk to the OS and allows the OS to translate that into something that the printer will use.