Interface Functions
Although the primary role for the BIOS today is to get your computer started, it retains the name it earned from its function as the software-to-hardware interface of your machine. It is a control system that operates at the lowest possible level (the most basic) at which the input and output of your computer are designed to link to programs. In effect, it is like a remote control for a television set. The BIOS allows your software to press buttons at a distance from the hardware, just as you control the channel of your TV from your easy chair—and without prying open the set and ratcheting its tuning circuits. In operation, the BIOS is a universal remote control. It lets you push the same buttons, regardless of the model or ...
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