Display Drivers
There are various display drivers that are available. Display drivers work with graphics hardware. The monitors and the display of the laptops are controlled by the graphics hardware. The graphics card can be add on in the computer system, built inside the motherboard or can also be outside the computer itself.
Specific display drivers
New graphics hardware models and display drivers are been released everyday. Display drivers are go between the specific device and the operating system. Much like other device drivers, each operating system has a specific display driver. This means that the Windows operating system and Linux operating system have different drivers even if it’s for the same model of the display monitor. Though the same display driver can sometimes be used for both windows XP and Windows 2000 operating system platform.
All graphics hardware have display drivers that are specific to the model. In case the display drivers aren’t installed properly, the hardware may not work or work with limited capabilities. In Windows operating system, all display drivers use generic VGA or SVGA when in the “safe mode”. This limits the capabilities of the display driver unless the operating system is functioning in the normal mode.
Linux Display drivers
Linux is an open source operating system and sometimes non manufacturers also maintain Linux display drivers. The code can be written by anyone but that doesn’t mean that it’s easy.
Display drivers are maintained by manufacturers
Display drivers for the graphics hardware are created and maintained by the manufacturers of the graphics hardware. They have a vested interest in making them work; else their hardware won’t be used to its full potential. Display drivers also have kernel level access to system resources. The display drivers are being reliable and bug free. Else the whole system can be rendered quite useless. When you can’t see something, you can’t work on it right?
Updates and patches are constantly been added
Updates and patches for the display drivers are been constantly added by the manufacturers. Keep checking the website of the manufacturer or the operating system for updates. Windows catalog maintains display drivers for a number of devices and is updated periodically. In most cases monitors are now plug and play devices, where the drivers are loaded within the operating system (gain these drivers are provided by the manufacturer to the operating system). In these cases the user takes less time to get the computer up and ready for use.
Some of the manufacturers for display drivers include NVIDIA display drivers, ATI display drivers, s3 display drivers, Dell display drivers, Trident display drivers, Intel display drivers, Radeon display drivers.
