On Mon, Apr 25, 2005 at 01:58:17PM +0100, Shahzad Chohan wrote: > Hi > > I'm a little confused, could someone please help me explain what is a > terminal, what is it for and why do we need it. Why are there > different types of terminals? Also where does the term vt100 or vt102 > fit in to this? > > Thanks for your help > > Shahzad > > -- Well this is a toughy since terminal can mean different things. Basically it is a area on the screen (or it may be the whole screen) that allows the user to type in commands. SO.. 1. The Xterm, or gnome terminal on a gnome screen is a terminal. 2. If you go into init level 3 the whole screen will be your terminal. 3. If you are in gnome or KDE and hit ctl-alt-Fx where x = 1-> 4 the whole screen will become a terminal. Now once upon a time before X there were hardware devices that were terminals (they still exist somewhere out there). Thes devices made by DEC (Digital Equipment Corp.) were called vt100 and vt102 and other things. So vt100, for example, represents a hardware terminal or a terminal program that responds to vt100 control codes. -- ======================================================================= I'm always looking for a new idea that will be more productive than its cost. -- David Rockefeller ------------------------------------------- Aaron Konstam Computer Science Trinity University One Trinity Place. San Antonio, TX 78212-7200 telephone: (210)-999-7484 email:akonstam@xxxxxxxxxxx
