What exactly do Printer Drivers do?
Most computer peripheral devices require a compatible driver for them to work properly. The work of the device driver is to facilitate communication between the computer and the external device. For more information about printer device drivers, please check out this article on about.com.
Without the driver installed, the computer and the device may not be able to communicate with each other, because they each use distinct communication protocols and languages. The driver serves as a translator, to translate commands from the computer into a language that the device can understand.
In line with the general definition of a device driver, printer drivers are basic machine programs that are required for printers to function effectively. Without the printer driver, the computer may be unable to recognize the printer for what it is and would not be able to communicate with it. The driver translates between the computer OS (Operating System) and the printer.
Here is what usually happens when a print command is initiated on a computer. If you are printing from MS Word, for example, the MS Word program will have to collaborate with the computer OS (probably WINDOWS) to get the task done. The computer OS will then have to send the necessary commands to the printer to perform the task. To do that, it will first need to call up the installed driver associated with the printer to translate the commands into machine language that can be understood by the printer. Without the driver, there will be no translation and no printing.
Different printer brands usually use different languages and so require different drivers. That is why a new printer normally comes with a CD attached. The CD contains the driver that has to be installed on the computer you want to pair the printer with. With the driver installed, it will be possible to fully utilize all the functions of the printer.
Sometimes, you may simply need to update the existing printer driver to be able to use another printer model. This is especially true if both the old and new printers are made by the same brand.