Dumb terminal

Definition

Incomputerscience,adumbterminalreferstoacomputerterminalwithlimitedfunctions,simpleinteractionmethods,andsimplerinteractionscomparedtoother"smart"computerterminals.Itsspecificmeaningvariesaccordingtodifferentoccasions(context).

DumbterminalisatermusedinearlyUnix-likeoperatingsystemcomputersystems.Itgenerallyreferstoaterminalthatcanonlyinput,outputanddisplaycharacters,thatis,acharacterterminal.Sincethedevelopmentofcomputersystems,ithasbeenabletosupportcomplexgraphicalinterfacedisplaysanddiversifiedhuman-computerinteractioninterfaces,sotheapplicationofdumbterminalshasgraduallybeenlimitedtospecificprofessionalorcommercialfields.

DumbterminalisusuallyamonitorandkeyboardconnectedtoaUnix-likecomputersystemviaaserialcommunicationinterfacecable.ThissimplecombinationprovidesawaytoinputtextdataanddisplaytextresultstoaUnix-likesystem.

Historyofdevelopment

Computerterminalsareproducedwiththecentralizedprocessingmodeofcomputersystems,andcontinuetodevelopwiththedevelopmentofcomputertechnology.Sofar,computingtechnologyhasexperienceddevelopmentperiodssuchasmainframes,mediumcomputers,minicomputers,microcomputers,personalcomputers(PCs),andnetworkcomputing.Networkterminalandotherforms.

Intheold-fashionedcomputerterminalconnectedwiththeRS-232serialcommunicationinterface,thedumbterminal,inanarrowsense,referstotheinabilitytoperformtaskssuchas"clearingaline"and"clearingaline".ascreen)”or“controlcursorposition(controlcursorposition)”andotherspecialescapesequences(escapesequences)operationofthecomputerterminal.Inthissense,thedumbterminalisalsocalledatransparentteletype-writer(Telegraphictype-writer,orTTY),becauseithassimilarlimitedfunctionstotheteletype-writer.ThisdumbterminalfunctionisstillsupportedbymodernUnix-likeoperatingsystems.Forexample,theenvironmentvariableTERMoftheUnixsystemcanbesettodumb,smartorintelligenttodeterminewhethertosupportcertainspecialescapesequences.

Thedumbterminalis"dumb"becauseitcanonlybeusedtosend,receiveanddisplaycharacters,andcannotrunanyprograms,performanycalculationsorcomplexinteractiveoperationsonit.Dumbterminalsdonothaveinternalprocessors,harddisksorfloppydisks,onlykeyboards,displays,andcommunicationlinesconnectedtothehost(usuallythroughserialportcontrollers).Therefore,thedumbterminalisalsoexpressedasanytypeofold-fashionedcomputerterminalconnectedbyRS-232serialcommunication.Itneitherprocesseslocaldatanorrunsuserprograms.Itcanonlyinputcharactersthroughthekeyboardandoutputcharacterresultsthroughthedisplayscreen.Computerterminal.

Inabroadersense,dumbterminalsincludeallformsofcomputercommunicationsorperipheraldevicesthatincludekeyboardsandscreens,includingpersonalcomputers(PersonalComputers),DisklessWorkstations,andnetworkcomputers.(NetworkComputers),ThinClientsandXTerminals.