Hardware-dependent software

Hardware-dependent software (HDS or HdS), the part of an <a href="/facts/Operating_system/8XTuvMh2">operating system</a> that varies across <a href="/facts/Microprocessor/Fx9CaQht">microprocessor</a> <a href="/facts/Circuit_board/muSR2p43">boards</a> and is comprised notably of <a href="/facts/Device_driver/rDYnHU1G">device drivers</a> and of <a href="/facts/Boot/k3vtmnUW">boot</a> code which performs hardware initialization. HDS does not comprise code which is only specific to a <a href="/facts/Central_processing_unit/Jxp1bqMV">processor</a> family and can run unchanged on various members of it. The HDS is alternatively called the <a href="/facts/Board_support_package/dgKtK8DP">BSP</a>, for Board Support Package, especially in the world of commercial operating systems where the processor family code is distributed in binary form only.
Often software that runs on operating systems may be hardware dependent at first, but <a href="/facts/Emulator/FMHE8qDj">emulators</a> can reduce dependencies for specific hardware.

Hardware-dependent software open-in-new

Hardware-dependent software