Content deleted Content added
m some other -> another |
m copyedit - typo in Emulator section |
||
| (3 intermediate revisions by 3 users not shown) | |||
Line 21:
[[Workstation]]s, usually running versions of [[Unix]], also became common in the 1980s. Unix systems usually provided access to the [[command line]] with locally-attached or dial-up terminals. Unix workstations were designed to be used primarily through a [[graphical user interface]] (GUI); to provide access to the command line, the GUI included terminal emulator applications that behaved like locally-attached terminals.
During the 1990s, new operating systems like [[Windows]] and [[OS/2]] arrived, providing the technical background for more terminal emulators like [https://winworldpc.com/product/telix/100-for-windows Telix for Windows], [[ZOC (software)|ZOC for OS/2]], or [[PuTTY]], which was initially released for Windows in 1998 and which (together with its derivates)
Through the [[History of Linux|success of Linux]], especially running on data centers and cloud servers,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.debianadmin.com/powering-linux-in-the-data-center.htm|title=Powering Linux in the Data-Center}} {{dead link|date=February 2024}}</ref> the necessity of accessing remote computers through character based terminals remains. This is evident in the fact, that today lists of terminal emulators that could serve as alternative to the aforementioned [[PuTTY]] offers over 100 alternatives.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://alternativeto.net/software/putty/ |title=Alternatives to Putty}}</ref>{{dubious|poor source usage for putty|date=February 2024}}
Line 41:
In the past, [[Unix]] and [[Unix-like]] systems used serial port devices such as [[RS-232]] ports, and provided {{Code|/dev/*|text}} [[device file]]s for them.<ref>{{Cite web|title=A Brief History of Terminal Emulation {{!}} Turbosoft|url=https://www.ttwin.com/blog/270-history-terminal-emulation|access-date=2021-10-04|website=www.ttwin.com}}</ref>
With terminal emulators these device files are themselves emulated by a pair of [[pseudoterminal]] devices. These in turn emulate a physical port/connection to the host computing endpoint – hardware provided by operating system APIs, or software such as [[rlogin]], [[telnet]] or [[Secure Shell|SSH]], among others.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Ubuntu Manpage: tty — general terminal interface|url=http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/bionic/man4/tty.4freebsd.html|access-date=2021-10-04|website=manpages.ubuntu.com}}</ref> In Linux systems, for example, these would be {{Code|/dev/ptyp0}} (for the master side) and {{Code|/dev/ttyp0}} (for the slave side) pseudoterminal devices respectively.
There are also special [[virtual console]] files like <code>/dev/console</code>. In text mode, writing to the file displays text on the virtual console and reading from the file returns text the user writes to the virtual console. As with other [[text terminal]]s, there are also special [[escape sequence]]s, [[control character]]s and [[System call|functions]] that a program can use, most easily via a library such as ''[[ncurses]]''. For more complex operations, the programs can use console and terminal special ''[[ioctl]]'' system calls. One can compare devices using the patterns vcs ("virtual console screen") and vcsa ("virtual console screen with attributes") such as <code>/dev/vcs1</code> and <code>/dev/vcsa1</code>.<ref>{{cite web|title=Screen dumps|url=https://tldp.org/HOWTO/Keyboard-and-Console-HOWTO-20.html|access-date=2008-07-31|work=The Linux keyboard and console HOWTO|publisher=The [[Linux Documentation Project]]|quote=The current contents of the screen of /dev/ttyN can be accessed using the device /dev/vcsN (where `vcs' stands for `virtual console screen'). [...] From a program it is usually better to use /dev/vcsaN (`virtual console screen with attributes') instead - it starts with a header giving the number of rows and columns and the ___location of the cursor. See vcs(4).}}</ref>
| |||