1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,480 These days, we're used to just plugging things into our computers and having them simply work 2 00:00:04,480 --> 00:00:09,200 right away. And while it's true that you might need to install drivers for an odd couple of 3 00:00:09,200 --> 00:00:14,880 things like a chipset or RGB, Windows does a remarkably good job of knowing exactly what's 4 00:00:14,880 --> 00:00:19,440 connected to the PC and using appropriate drivers. But it wasn't always like this. 5 00:00:19,440 --> 00:00:24,000 Back before the days of plug-and-play hardware, you had to manually configure 6 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:28,560 how the system would assign resources to whichever gadget you were installing. 7 00:00:28,560 --> 00:00:33,840 Every piece of hardware needs to be assigned addresses for memory and IO access so the system 8 00:00:33,840 --> 00:00:39,440 knows where to send data. These days, it's almost always handled automatically by the operating 9 00:00:39,440 --> 00:00:46,320 system. But back in the day, you had to find free addresses yourself and possibly even set switches 10 00:00:46,320 --> 00:00:52,080 or do soldering on the actual hardware, not things that lend themselves well to novice users. 11 00:00:52,080 --> 00:00:57,120 Plug and Play came to save us with the release of Windows 95. You might remember how it would 12 00:00:57,120 --> 00:01:04,160 try and automatically set up hardware when you first installed the OS. Although there were other 13 00:01:04,160 --> 00:01:09,360 prior technologies that tried to enable automatic hardware setup, the Windows 95 launch marked the 14 00:01:09,360 --> 00:01:14,640 first time consumers experienced widespread support for the technology. Of course, that didn't 15 00:01:14,640 --> 00:01:20,240 necessarily mean that it worked well. Although Windows 95 could recognize some devices without a 16 00:01:20,240 --> 00:01:26,320 hitch, there still wasn't a universal plug-and-play standard that all device manufacturers used. 17 00:01:26,320 --> 00:01:32,240 And to complicate matters, the BIOS had to be on the same page as the device and the OS as well. 18 00:01:32,960 --> 00:01:37,440 Furthermore, this was back when the internet was in its infancy and tons of users running 19 00:01:37,440 --> 00:01:42,640 Windows 95 didn't even have an internet connection, meaning that while Windows came with some drivers 20 00:01:42,640 --> 00:01:48,160 preloaded, it couldn't cover everything as the OS was unable to pull drivers off the server and 21 00:01:48,160 --> 00:01:52,560 oftentimes the system wouldn't know what to do with the new gadget. This led users to 22 00:01:52,640 --> 00:01:57,840 derisively refer to the technology as plug-and-pray, as you never quite knew if the system would 23 00:01:57,840 --> 00:02:03,040 automatically recognize the device or not when you first plugged it in. Indeed, Microsoft actually 24 00:02:03,040 --> 00:02:08,240 had an infamous egg on their face moment during the Windows 98 demo that featured Bill Gates himself. 25 00:02:08,240 --> 00:02:12,640 They plugged in a scanner in an attempt to show how the new OS supported plug-and-play 26 00:02:12,640 --> 00:02:15,280 and the system blue screened as soon as it was connected. 27 00:02:15,840 --> 00:02:26,240 But as time went on, the industry figured out improvements to the technology. The ACPI 28 00:02:26,240 --> 00:02:31,040 standard, which started becoming widespread in the early 2000s, gave Windows a more standardized 29 00:02:31,040 --> 00:02:35,920 way to connect devices rather than relying on firmware support from the BIOS, which was more 30 00:02:35,920 --> 00:02:40,960 inconsistent. ACPI allowed the motherboard to tell Windows automatically what hardware was connected, 31 00:02:40,960 --> 00:02:45,680 which was a big step in the right direction. Manufacturers of other devices also started 32 00:02:45,680 --> 00:02:50,000 baking in more information that the system could read to automatically tell what was plugged in. 33 00:02:50,000 --> 00:02:55,760 For example, PCI adapter cards, including ones that use the later PCI Express protocol, 34 00:02:55,760 --> 00:03:00,960 have a configuration space that contains information about what kind of device it is, 35 00:03:00,960 --> 00:03:05,280 who made it, and what its capabilities are so that the system can react accordingly. 36 00:03:05,280 --> 00:03:10,640 Similarly, USB devices have controller chips inside them that also contain identifying information 37 00:03:10,640 --> 00:03:16,000 so that Windows can fetch the right drivers. And as we alluded to earlier, the ubiquity of high 38 00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:21,120 speed internet connections has made it feasible for Windows itself to take these hardware identifiers 39 00:03:21,120 --> 00:03:26,560 and match them with a large repository of up-to-date drivers that manufacturers send to Microsoft, 40 00:03:26,560 --> 00:03:31,920 making it trivial for the OS to grab a needed driver in most cases. Although this is extremely 41 00:03:31,920 --> 00:03:37,600 convenient, part of me does still miss the days when you had to insert a floppy disk with a driver 42 00:03:37,600 --> 00:03:43,280 and listen to it make all sorts of ungodly noises. Oh yeah. That's the good stuff. 43 00:03:45,360 --> 00:03:49,040 So thanks for watching TechWiki. If you liked this video, give us a like, hit subscribe, 44 00:03:49,040 --> 00:03:52,400 and be sure to hit us up in the comments section with your suggestions for topics that we should 45 00:03:52,400 --> 00:03:53,680 cover in the future.