HAL is a specification and an implementation of a hardware abstraction layer. It encompasses a shared library for use in applications, a daemon, a hotplug tool, command line tools, and a set of stock device info files.
Hardware Abstraction Layer. Used to provide a generic interface to the hardware and 'hide' hardware-specific functions.
The HAL separates the hardware from the OS, and makes the OS portable across any platform that supports the HAL.
A screen reading software package. It is also a component of the Supernova software.
Hardware Abstraction Layer / The computer in "2001: A Space Odyssey", more information ...
The hardware abstraction layer. Consists of hardware and device driver mechanisms that insulate applications from device-specific implementation details. If a capability requested by an application is not implemented by the current hardware, the capability is emulated by the software.
Hardware Abstraction Layer. A software layer closest to the hardware that performs all hardware-specific functions. The HAL includes the device drivers.
The low-level part of Windows NT/2000/XP, written specifically for each CPU technology, so that only the HAL must change when platform components change.
Hardware Abstraction Layer, a communication device interface that provides communication channels for processes.
hardware abstraction layer. A thin layer of software provided by the hardware manufacturer that hides, or abstracts, hardware differences from higher layers of the operating system. Through the filter provided by the HAL, different types of hardware all look alike to the rest of the operating system. This allows Windows NT and Windows 2000 to be portable from one hardware platform to another. The HAL also provides routines that allow a single device driver to support the same device on all platforms. The HAL works closely with the kernel.
Hardware Abstraction Layer. Virtualizes hardware interfaces, making the hardware dependencies transparent to the rest of the operating system. This allows Windows NT to be portable from one hardware platform to another.
The portion of the operating system that lets programs deal with hardware directly. This allows programs needing more speed from the computer to bypass...
Hardware Abstraction Layer. Firmware, which provides a semi- or fully standardized interface between a SOC and code designed to exercise the SOC. This code forms a layer between the hardware and software, allowing any software that uses a HAL to be more easily ported to operate with a different SOC. This may or may not include boot code.
Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) is a programming in an operating system that functions as an interface between a system's hardware and software. It provides a consistent hardware platform to run applications.
The Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) is a kernel-mode component containing hardware-specific code to handle low-level hardware operations.
hardware abstraction layer. In operating systems such as Windows NT, a layer in which assembly language code is isolated. A hardware abstraction layer functions similarly to an application programming interface (API) and is used by programmers to write device-independent applications. See also application programming interface (API) and device independence.
See hardware abstraction layer.
hardware abstraction layer. An NT-based operating system component that provides platform-specific support for the NT kernel, the I/O Manager, kernel-mode debuggers, and the lowest-level device drivers. The HAL exports routines that abstract platform-specific hardware details about caches, I/O buses, interrupts, and so forth, and provides an interface between the platform's hardware and the system software. For example, the HAL implements a routine to map each device driver's bus-relative device interrupt vector to a system-assigned vector with a corresponding platform-specific hardware priority (DIRQL), as well as several routines that provide DMA-transfer support.
HAL is a Hardware Abstraction Layer and Open-source software Project that allows desktop applications on an operating system to readily access hardware information so that they can locate and use such hardware regardless of bus or device type. In this way a desktop GUI can present all resources to its user in a seamless and uniform manner.