Talk:Computer terminal
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This statement from the article makes no sense: "This class of terminals were later renamed dumb terminals, differentiating them from PCs running emulation software." Terminals have always been differentiated from PCs running emulation software, by actually being terminals. I recognize that some people mistakenly use the term "dumb terminal" to refer to any computer terminal, but isn't that out of ignorance? --Serge 06:41, 12 December 2005 (UTC)
Is the merge actually serious? Command prompt being merged with computer terminal? I almost died laughing. If this goes ahead, we may as well merge the articles on cathode ray tubes and the BBC. Afterall, CRT's display the BBC channels, don't they. Strongly oppose. 82.10.97.111 21:48, 3 September 2006 (UTC)
What is the etymology of this term?
[edit] "little usability of many text-mode applications"
I added citation-needed to the part of the article which states that (interpretation by me):
- ncurses, terminfo, terminal emulators etc are buggy
- and so buggy that many applications have "little usability" (i.e. major problems)
- and all development effort goes into GUIs, so it will probably never be fixed
I use these kinds of applications heavily at work and at home, and I don't recognize this description of reality at all (my only major annoyance is colors, which tend to come in unreadable combinations by default). Furthermore, I have never heard complaints like these raised before, neither by users nor programmers. JöG 15:31, 29 July 2007 (UTC)
- I generally see comments such as "buggy" from (a) people who don't know how to select a proper terminal description, or (b) people relating second-hand opinions Tedickey 19:30, 21 September 2007 (UTC)
[edit] AlphaWindows
I've added a section on AlphaWindows. I think this is notable since it was a pre-MS-Windows attempt to have multiple sessions on a single screen, however I'm afraid that I can't cite sources simply because so little was published about it (roughly translated: trust me, I'm an engineer :-) I might have one extremely skimpy article on it somewhere but if anybody else has anything (e.g. on what sort of escape sequences it used and how the host operating system saw it) I think it would be of general interest. MarkMLl 18:31, 21 September 2007 (UTC)
- 1992 isn't pre-MS-Windows. AlphaWindows were a variant such as X Terminal, addressing a lower-end market Tedickey 19:17, 21 September 2007 (UTC)
- It was approximately contemporaneous with Windows 3.0, my understanding- but I'm happy to be corrected if you were in some way involved- is that Wyse et. al. intended it to support multiple text- not graphical- sessions, which is why I don't think categorising it as a graphical terminal is appropriate.
- When I wrote "pre-MS-Windows" I was specifically thinking of running multiple live terminal sessions under Windows- something that was still rather a novelty in those days. MarkMLl 20:19, 21 September 2007 (UTC)
