BIOS

The CPU can’t magically or otherwise automatically know how to talk with any device; it needs some sort of support programming loaded into memory that teaches it about a particular device. This programming is called basic input/output services (BIOS). The programs dedicated to enabling the CPU to communicate with device are called services (or device drivers, as you’ll see later in the chapter). This goes well beyond the keyboard, by the way. In fact, every device on the computer needs BIOS! But lets continue with the keyboard for now.