A printer is a very sophisticated piece of equipment.

It is made up of components that eventually put ink on to paper. The compents are controlled by software issuing the right commands are the right time.

The printer 'driver' is designed to translate a standard print command into the specific set of instructions that will cause the hardware to print a letter or graphic.

For example:

A wordprocessor sends a standard command to the printer to print the letter 'A'.

The driver takes this instruction and translates it into a specific set of commands that the printer needs to print the letter A.

Every printer has its own printer driver.

Drivers are usually written by the printer manufacturer because they know exactly how a standard command is to be handled by its printers.