do USB devices need drivers?

[rookie1010]

Hello

would it be true to say that USB devices like digital camera do need any drivers, since the USB driver is common between all USB devices (as long as the version is same) and already in place.

 

[Ethereal_Dragon]

Depending on the device, yes, it needs drivers. I just got a Sony Cybershot DSC-H2 camera last week, and finally hooked it up to the PC last night. It didn't recognize the camera without drivers.

Something like a flash drive doesn't need drivers installed on the PC though, at least, not in my experience....

Also, moving this to a different forum.

 

[Nitestick]

yes they do need drivers. i'm not sure where you got the idea that USB devices don't or that

the USB driver is common between all USB devices

but it's a misconception. you only think they don't need drivers because of the large number of generic drivers windows xp has that it will auto install (often incorrectly). there is no "USB driver" that allows all USB devices to work.

 

[The General]

I guess "drivers" are to add support for hardware that the kernel doesn't support by default.

So, no, not all hardware needs drivers, because the kernel supports a bunch of hardware.

 

[schusterjo]

Yes, they do need drivers. Every device, whether it be a printer, disk drive, or keyboard, must have a driver program. Many drivers, such as the keyboard driver, come with the operating system. For other devices, you may need to load a new driver when you connect the device to your computer. In DOS systems, drivers are files with a.SYS extension. In Windows environments, drivers often have a.DRV extension.

A driver acts like a translator between the device and programs that use the device. Each device has its own set of specialized commands that only its driver knows. In contrast, most programs access devices by using generic commands. The driver, therefore, accepts generic commands from a program and then translates them into specialized commands for the device.

How USB Ports Work
good reading.

How Device Drivers Work