A terminal is a device that allows a user to enter data or commands for a computer system and displays the results. Operating systems such as Windows, Mac, Linux, etc have a terminal installed inside them.
Types of Terminals
Intelligent terminal: This type of terminal uses a central processor to send and receive data. Examples are modern banking, retail, industrial data collection applications, etc.
Smart terminal: This type of terminal uses a microprocessor, which has some processing potentialities without the computer host's knowledge. It has more processing power than the intelligent terminal.
Dumb terminal: This type of terminal does not contain any processing potentialities. It just works as an input or output for a processor.
Uses of Terminals
- Sends text commands to the computer to perform simple tasks
- Data processing
- Data transcribing
How to open a terminal
WINDOWS
- Open Start
- Search and open Run
- Type 'cmd'
MAC
- Open Applications
- Open Utilities
- Double-click on Terminal
LINUX
- Press (ctrl + alt + T)
OR
- Type 'terminal' in the search box, and open it.
Basics commands for terminals
- cd: Change directory
- open 'filename': Open a file/application
- clear: Removes previous commands
- exit: Closes the terminal
- mv: Moves a file
There are more terminals, but these are the major ones you should know.
Summary
A terminal is a device that allows a user to enter data/commands for a computer system and displays the results. There are 3 types of terminals: intelligent, smart and dumb terminals. It is mainly used to perform simple tasks on the computer, even though there are other uses. All operating systems have a terminal.
I hope you enjoyed reading my articles and try to practice some commands and also find new ones to try out.