It has been suggested that dumb terminal be merged into this article or section. (Discuss)

This article is about the serial computer interface for text. For other uses, see Terminal (disambiguation).

A typical text terminal produces input and displays output and errors

A data terminal, text terminal, or often just terminal (sometimes text console) is a serial computer interface for text entry and display. Original text terminals were electronic computer terminals connected to computers by a serial line, but later computers have built-in system consoles, and terminal emulator programs that work in a graphical desktop environment. Graphical displays have not eradicated the text terminal as it is convenient for computer programmers and appropriate for command-line interfaces and text user interfaces. Most programming languages support standard streams for inputting and printing text, and it is simplest to connect the streams to a text terminal. Image File history File links Please see the file description page for further information. ... A dumb terminal in computing consists of a computer screen and keyboard, but practically no processing ability. ... Look up Terminal in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Image File history File links Stdstreams-notitle. ... Image File history File links Stdstreams-notitle. ... A computer terminal is an electronic or electromechanical hardware device that is used for entering data into, and displaying data from, a computer or a computing system. ... A male DE-9 serial port on the rear panel of a PC. In computing, a serial port consists of an interface on a computer system through which information transfers in or out one bit at a time (contrast parallel port). ... Knoppix system console showing the boot process The system console, root console or simply console is the text entry and display device for system administration messages, particularly those from the BIOS or boot loader, the kernel, from the init system and from the system logger. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... In graphical computing, a desktop environment (DE) offers graphical user interface (GUI) solution to operate a computer. ... A command line interface or CLI is a method of interacting with a computer by giving it lines of textual commands (that is, a sequence of characters) either from keyboard input or from a script. ... TUI (Text User Interface) is a retronym that was coined sometime after the invention of graphical user interfaces, to distinguish them from text based user interfaces. ... The standard streams for input, output, and error The standard streams are preconnected input or output channels between a computer program and its environment (typically a text terminal) when it begins execution. ...

Types of text terminals

ASR33 teleprinter

A video terminal by Televideo

At first in the history of computers, teleprinters were used. Later, computer terminals developed to have video displays. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (511x857, 146 KB) Teletype ASR33, photographed in the HNF (Heinz-Nixdorf Computer Forum), one of the biggest computer museums world wide. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (511x857, 146 KB) Teletype ASR33, photographed in the HNF (Heinz-Nixdorf Computer Forum), one of the biggest computer museums world wide. ... Introduced about 1963, Teletype Corporations ASR33 was a very popular model of teleprinter. ... Download high resolution version (1232x1059, 265 KB) A Televideo 925 computer terminal. ... Download high resolution version (1232x1059, 265 KB) A Televideo 925 computer terminal. ... A company that achieved its peak of success in the early 80s producing dumb terminals. ... Teletype machines in World War II A teleprinter (teletypewriter, teletype or TTY) is a now largely obsolete electro-mechanical typewriter which can be used to communicate typed messages from point to point through a simple electrical communications channel, often just a pair of wires. ... A computer terminal is an electronic or electromechanical hardware device that is used for entering data into, and displaying data from, a computer or a computing system. ...

System console is a text terminal used to operate a computer. Modern computers have a built-in keyboard and display for the console. Some operating systems such as Linux and FreeBSD have virtual consoles to provide several text terminals on a single computer. Knoppix system console showing the boot process The system console, root console or simply console is the text entry and display device for system administration messages, particularly those from the BIOS or boot loader, the kernel, from the init system and from the system logger. ... Linux (also known as GNU/Linux) is a Unix-like computer operating system. ... FreeBSD is a Unix-like free operating system descended from AT&T UNIX via the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD) branch through the 386BSD and 4. ... First virtual console showing Knoppix boot messages In some operating systems such as Linux and FreeBSD, a virtual console (VC, sometimes virtual terminal, VT) is a conceptual combination of the keyboard and the display for a user interface. ...

Terminal emulator is a computer program in a graphical windowing system that lets the user operate a text terminal in a window. This lets text terminals coexist with modern graphical user interfaces. Popular terminal emulators include Win32 console and xterm. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... A windowing system is a graphical user interface (GUI) which uses the window as one of its primary metaphors. ... This article or section needs a complete rewrite for the reasons listed on the talk page. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into cmd. ... xterm is the standard terminal emulator for the X Window System. ...

There are also specialized terminal emulators such as those used with modems. PuTTY is a terminal emulator and ssh client. PuTTY is a free SSH, Telnet, rlogin, and raw TCP client. ... In computing, Secure shell, or SSH, is both a computer program and an associated network protocol designed for logging into and executing commands on a remote computer. ...

Applications running on a text terminal

The terminal emulator of Windows XP running the cmd.exe shell

Nano text editor running in the xterm terminal emulator

The fundamental type of application running on a text terminal is a command line interpreter shell, which prompts for commands from the user and executes each command after a press of Enter. This includes Unix shells and some interactive programming environments. In a shell, most of the commands are small applications themselves. Image File history File links Windows_Command_Prompt. ... Image File history File links Windows_Command_Prompt. ... Windows XP is a line of operating systems developed by Microsoft for use on general-purpose computer systems, including home and business desktops, notebook computers, and media centers. ... cmd. ... Image File history File links A screenshot of GNU Nano version 1. ... Image File history File links A screenshot of GNU Nano version 1. ... Nano is a text editor for Unix and Unix-like systems, licensed under the GNU General Public License. ... xterm is the standard terminal emulator for the X Window System. ... A command line interpreter is a computer program which reads lines of text that the user types and interprets them in the context of a given operating system or programming language. ... In computing, a shell is a piece of software that essentially provides a kind of interface for end-users. ... Command Prompt on Windows XP. A command prompt (or just prompt) is a character or string of characters used in a command line interface to indicate that the computer is ready to accept typed input. ... A Unix shell, also called the command line, provides the traditional user interface for the Unix operating system. ... Definition Interactive programming is the procedure of writing parts of a program while it is already active. ...

Another important application type is text editor. It occupies the whole area of display, shows a text document, and allows the user to edit the document. This has in part been replaced by word processors. First word processors used text to communicate the structure of the document, but later work outside of the text terminal and simulate the final paper document in a graphical user interface. Notepad is the standard text editor for Microsoft Windows A text editor is a piece of computer software for editing plain text. ... A word processor (also more formally known as a document preparation system) is a computer application used for the production (including composition, editing, formatting, and possibly printing) of any sort of viewable or printed material. ...

Programs such as Telix and Minicom control a modem and the local terminal to let the user interact with remote servers. In the Internet, telnet and ssh work similarly. Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... A modem (a portmanteau constructed from modulate and demodulate) is a device that modulates an analog carrier signal to encode digital information, and also demodulates such a carrier signal to decode the transmitted information. ... TELNET is a network protocol used on the Internet or local area network LAN connections. ... In computing, Secure shell, or SSH, is both a computer program and an associated network protocol designed for logging into and executing commands on a remote computer. ...

Programming interface

In the simplest form, a text terminal is like a file. Writing to the file displays the text and reading from the file produces what the user enters. In unix-like operating systems, there are several character special files that correspond to available text terminals. These include virtual consoles /dev/tty1 etc., serial ports /dev/ttyS0 etc. and pseudo terminals /dev/pts0 etc. There are also special files /dev/console, /dev/tty and /dev/tty0. Virtual consoles, computer terminals and modem lines can be configured in the file /etc/inittab read by init -- typically it starts the text mode login process getty for several virtual consoles. A Unix-like operating system is one that behaves in a manner similar to a Unix system, while not necessarily conforming to or being certified to any version of the Single UNIX Specification. ... A device node is a special file type used on many Unix-like operating systems. ... Virtual Console is the term coined by Nintendo for a new system of technologies in a future video game console. ... A male DE-9 serial port on the rear panel of a PC. A male serial port on a laptop computer. ... Overview In Unix, a pseudo terminal is a kernel device pair that simulates an ordinary terminal but without the associated terminal hardware. ... init (short for initialization) is the program on Unix and Unix-like systems which spawns all other processes. ... A login (also log in, log on, signon, sign on) is the process of accessing a computer system by identification of the user in order to obtain credentials to permit access. ...

The programs used to control the device files include setserial, setterm and stty. The command tty tells the name of the text terminal that it is run on. tty is a Unix command that prints on standard output the name of the file connected to standard input. ...

For other operations, there are special escape sequences, control characters and termios functions that a program can use, most easily via a library such as ncurses. For more complex operations, the programs can use terminal special ioctl system calls. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... In computing, a control character or non-printing character, is a code point (a number) in a character set that does not in itself represent a written symbol. ... In computing, a system call is the mechanism used by an application program to request service from the operating system, or more specifically, the operating system kernel. ... Ncurses is a programming library providing an API, allowing the programmer to write text user interfaces in a terminal-independent manner. ... In computing, the system call ioctl (IPA: ), found on Unix-like systems, allows an application to control or communicate with a device driver outside the usual read/write of data. ...

External links

• Text Terminal HOWTO