Hardware, Firmware & the Operating System

Exam code: 2210

Written by: Ashika|Reviewed by: Caroline Carroll|Updated 2 July 2026

Application software talks to the operating system, this allows it to interact with the hardware
The hardware processes and sends the information to the operating system which talks directly to the applications software
This process is repeated while application software is in use

Firmware is embedded directly in to the hardware of a device, to make them function
When a computer is turned on, it has to explore the ROM for its initial boot-up instructions, these are contained in a Bootstrap loader
The initial process is handled by the basic input/output system (BIOS) which is known as firmware
Once start-up is complete, instructions are sent to RAM to be processed by the operating system
This layer ensures that hardware devices e.g. keyboard and mouse are available and can be communicated directly by the operating system
Firmware translates between the hardware and the software

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