Computer terminal: Difference between revisions

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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> 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. [[Teleprinter]]s were used as early-day hard-copy terminals<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.samhallas.co.uk/repository/telegraph/teletype_story.pdf |title=The Teletype Story}}</ref><ref name="flexowriter-whirlwind">{{cite web|url=https://www.computerhistory.org/timeline/1956/|title=Direct keyboard input to computers|access-date=2024-01-11|archive-date=2017-07-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170717231119/http://www.computerhistory.org/timeline/1956/#169ebbe2ad45559efbc6eb35720ba5f3|url-status=live}}</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 [[microcomputers]] such as the [[Sphere 1]], [[Sol-20]], and [[Apple I]], display circuitry and keyboards 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 teletypesTeletypes 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 posiblepossible on more expensive terminals.

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.