A board support package is a set of software components that are used for developing and running an embedded system on a particular hardware platform. Some commonly used synonyms for board support package are firmware, device driver, operating system, software platform, and middleware. Firmware is a low-level software that is permanently stored in the hardware device and provides basic functionalities to the system. Device driver, on the other hand, is a software component that manages communication between the device and the operating system. Operating systems provide a software platform on which software applications can run, while middleware is an intermediary layer between the hardware and software components that offers services like communication, synchronization, and security.