Driver
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A driver, or device driver, is a software program that enables a specific hardware device to work with a computers operating system. Drivers may be required for internal components, such as video cards and optical media drives, as well as external peripherals, such as printers and monitors.
Most modern hardware is plug and play, meaning the devices will work without requiring driver installation. However, even if a hardware device is recognized by the operating system, installing the correct drivers may provide additional options and functionality for the device. For example, most mice work automatically when they are connected to a PC. However, installing the appropriate mouse driver may allow you to customize the function of each button and adjust the mouse sensitivity. Some keyboard drivers allow you to assign functions to specific keys, such as controlling the volume or opening specific applications.
There are several different ways to install drivers. For some devices, such as printers, the operating system may automatically find and install the correct drivers when the device is connected. In other cases, drivers can be installed from a CD or DVD provided with the hardware. If no disc is available, you can typically download the latest drivers from the manufacturers website from either the Support or Downloads section. Most downloadable drivers include an installer that automatically installs the necessary files when you open the downloaded file.
File extensions: .DRV, .DLL, .SYS, .KEXT -
A person who drives a vehicle.
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Driver in Golf. The club that has the longest shaft but the least loft of all the clubs, except the putter, and is used to hit the ball the farthest.
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a golf club (a wood) with a near vertical face that is used for hitting long shots from the tee
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the operator of a motor vehicle
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someone who drives animals that pull a vehicle
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one who, or that which, drives; the person or thing that urges or compels anything else to move onward
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an overseer of a gang of slaves or gang of convicts at their work
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a part that transmits motion to another part by contact with it, or through an intermediate relatively movable part, as a gear which drives another, or a lever which moves another through a link, etc. Specifically:
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the driving wheel of a locomotive
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a crossbar on a grinding mill spindle to drive the upper stone
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- The main loop of an event-processing
program; the code that gets commands and dispatches them for execution.
2. [techspeak] In device
driver, code designed to handle a particular peripheral device
such as a magnetic disk or tape unit. 3. In the TeX world and the computerized typesetting world in
general, a program that translates some device-independent or other common
format to something a real device can actually understand.
- The main loop of an event-processing
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A large sail formerly used with the wind aft or quartering. It
was a square sail cut like a studding-sail, and set with a great yard on
the end of the spanker-boom, across the taffrail. The name latterly has
been officially applied to the spanker, both being the aftermost sails
of a ship, the ring-tail being only an addition, as a studding or
steering sail. (See STEERING-SAIL.) Also, the foremost spur in the
bilge-ways, the heel of which is fayed to the fore-side of the foremost
poppet, and the sides of it look fore and aft. Also, a sort of
fishing-boat. -
(computer science) a program that determines how a computer will communicate with a peripheral device
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a kind of sail, smaller than a fore and aft spanker on a square-rigged ship, a driver is tied to the same spars.
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the person who drives beasts or a carriage; a coachman; a charioteer, etc.; hence, also, one who controls the movements of a locomotive
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an attachment to a lathe, spindle, or face plate to turn a carrier
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the after sail in a ship or bark, being a fore-and-aft sail attached to a gaff; a spanker
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One who drives something, in any sense of the verb to drive.
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