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Some included a paper tape reader and punch which could record output such as a program listing and then re-entered with the tape reader at a different ___location. |
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A '''computer terminal''' is an electronic or [[electromechanical]] [[computer hardware|hardware]] device that can be used for entering data into, and transcribing<ref>E.g., displaying, printing, punching.</ref> data from, a [[computer]] or a [[computing]] system.<ref>similar to a paraphrase of an [[Oxford English Dictionary]] definition. {{cite web |url=https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/131511/what-is-the-etymology-of-computer-terminal |title=What is the etymology of "[computer] terminal"?}} Based on OED, B.2.d. (terminal), the paraphrase says that a terminal is a device for feeding data into a computer or receiving its output, especially one that can be used by a person for two-way communication with a computer.</ref> The [[Teleprinter|teletype]] was an example of an early-day hard-copy terminal<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.samhallas.co.uk/repository/telegraph/teletype_story.pdf |title=The Teletype Story}}</ref> and predated the use of a computer screen by decades. The computer would typically transmit a line of data which would be printed on paper, and accept a line of data from a keyboard over a serial or other interface. Starting in the mid-1970s with machines such as the [[Sphere 1]], [[Sol-20]], and [[Apple I]], terminal circuitry began to be integrated into personal and [[workstation]] computer systems, with the computer handling character generation and outputting to a [[Cathode-ray_tube|CRT display]] such as a [[computer monitor]] or, sometimes, a consumer TV.
Early terminals were inexpensive devices but very slow compared to [[punched card]]s or [[punched tape|paper tape]] for input; with the advent of [[time-sharing]] systems, terminals slowly pushed these older forms of interaction from the industry. Related development were the improvement of terminal technology and the introduction of inexpensive [[video display]]s. Early teletypes only printed out with a communications speed of only 100 baud or 10 characters per second, and by the 1970s speeds of video terminals had improved to 2400 or 9600 baud.
The function of a terminal is typically confined to transcription and input of data; a device with significant local, programmable data-processing capability may be called a "smart terminal" or [[fat client]]. A terminal that depends on the host computer for its processing power is called a "[[dumb terminal]]"<ref name=DicDumb>{{cite web |website=BusinessDictionary.com |title=What is dumb terminal? definition and meaning |url=http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/dumb-terminal.html |access-date=March 13, 2019 |archive-date=August 13, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200813062015/http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/dumb-terminal.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> or a [[thin client]].<ref>Thin clients came later than dumb terminals</ref><ref>the term "thin client" was coined in 1993) {{cite web |url=https://www.ft.com/content/dc70f841-54b7-3ef1-abf0-d6f32b270f76 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/https://www.ft.com/content/dc70f841-54b7-3ef1-abf0-d6f32b270f76 |archive-date=December 10, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Is this, finally, the thin client from Oracle? |date=June 2, 2009 |first=Richard |last=Waters}}</ref> In the era of serial ([[RS-232]]) terminals there was a conflicting usage of the term "smart terminal" as a dumb terminal with no user-accessible local computing power but a particularly rich set of control codes for manipulating the display; this conflict was not resolved before hardware serial terminals became obsolete.
A personal computer can run [[terminal emulator]] software that replicates functions of a real-world terminal, sometimes allowing concurrent use of local programs and access to a distant ''terminal host'' system, either over a direct serial connection or over a network using, e.g., [[SSH]]. Today few if any dedicated computer terminals are being manufactured as they are mostly obsolete as time sharing on large computers has been replaced by personal computers, handheld devices and workstations which use a graphical user interface which displays output directly from a computer's display memory. Most user interactions with computer servers are with web browsers
==History==
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