Computer terminal: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 20:10, 22 May 2024

Revision as of 20:12, 22 May 2024

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[[File:IBM_2741_(I197205).png|thumb|right|[[IBM 2741]], a widely emulated computer terminal in the 1960s and 1970s<br>(keyboard/printer)]]

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> Most early computers only had a front panel to input or display bits and had to be connected to a terminal to print or input text through a keyboard. 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[[microcomputers]] such as the [[Sphere 1]], [[Sol-20]], and [[Apple I]], terminal circuitry began to be integrated into [[personal computer|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, but most larger computers continued to require terminals.

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 75 baud or 10 5-bit characters per second, and by the 1970s speeds of video terminals had improved to 2400 or 9600 {{units|2400|u=bps}}. Similarly, the speed of remote batch terminals had improved to {{units|4800|u=bps}} at the beginning of the decade and {{units|19.6|u=kbps}} by the end of the decade, with higher speeds posible on more expensive terminals.