1. Introduction

For a quick attempt to install a terminal see Quick Install.

1.1 Copyright, Trademarks, Disclaimer, & Credits

Copyright

Copyright 1998-2007 by David S. Lawyer. mailto:dave@lafn.org

Please freely copy and distribute (sell or give away) this document in any format. Send any corrections and comments to the document maintainer. You may create a derivative work and distribute it provided that you:

1. If it's not a translation: Email a copy of your derivative work (in a format LDP accepts) to the author(s) and maintainer (could be the same person). If you don't get a response then email the LDP (Linux Documentation Project): submit@en.tldp.org.
2. License the derivative work in the spirit of this license or use GPL. Include a copyright notice and at least a pointer to the license used.
3. Give due credit to previous authors and major contributors.

If you're considering making a derived work other than a translation, it's requested that you discuss your plans with the current maintainer.

Disclaimer

While I haven't intentionally tried to mislead you, there are likely a number of errors in this document. Please let me know about them. Since this is free documentation, it should be obvious that I cannot be held legally responsible for any errors.

Trademarks.

Any brand names (starts with a capital letter such as MS Windows) should be assumed to be a trademark). Such trademarks belong to their respective owners.

Credits

Greg Hankin's Serial-HOWTO v.1.11 (1997) section "How Do I Set Up A Terminal Connected To My PC?" was incorporated into v1.00 at various places (with Greg's permission). v1.09 has about 25 changes (and error corrections) suggested by Alessandro Rubini who reviewed this terminal as a console for a monitorless PC (using ttysnoop). In 2001 (v1.26) I fixed about 25 typos, etc. found by Alain Cochard. Numerous other people have made a suggestion or two or found a few typos. Thanks.

1.2 Future Plans: You Can Help

Please let me know of any errors in facts, opinions, logic, spelling, grammar, clarity, links, etc. But first, if the date is over a few months old, check to see that you have the latest version. Please send me any info that you think belongs in this document.

In order to fully utilize all the features of a certain real terminal, one needs the terminal manuals that came with the terminal when it was new. If you don't have a manual, this HOWTO may be of some help. One way to solve this problem would be for more terminal manufacturers put their manuals on the Internet.

Please send me any surplus terminal manuals which you may have, especially on terminals made within the past 15 years (but I'll accept older ones also). Also, you might want to write up something on a certain terminal to put in the Appendix D: Notes by Brand Name.

1.3 New Versions of this HOWTO

New versions of the Text-Terminal-HOWTO should be released every year or so. To get the latest version go to an LDP mirror sites (see: http://www.tldp.org/mirrors.html). To quickly check the date of the latest version look at Text-Terminal-HOWTO.html. The version your are currently reading is: v1.40 December 2006 .

For a full revision history going back to the first version in 1998 see the source file (in linuxdoc format) at http://cvsview.tldp.org/index.cgi/LDP/howto/linuxdoc/Text-Terminal-HOWTO.sgml and click on text.

• v1.40 Dec. 2006 Picocom is like minicom. Devfs obsolete so removed tts/1, etc. Updated pseudo terminals. More about telnet, ssh, and non-serial port interfaces. IBM terminal emulation over telnet. Kermit for MS does terminal emulation. Ports of minicom to Mac. Fixed/removed broken links. "reset" is an alias for "tset"
• v1.39 Aug. 2006 Typo your -> you're; Termcap Manual = Termcap Library; Fixed several broken links. Found link to mapchan program.
• v1.38 Feb. 2006 Fixed typos "the the"
• v1.37 Feb. 2006 "file-transfer" cables, typo: VT012=>VT102, url to Text-Terminal source fixed, not revised every few months anymore, edited key cleaning

1.4 Related HOWTOs, etc.

Go to the nearest mirror site (per above) to get HOWTOs.

• Serial-HOWTO has info on Multiport Serial Cards used for both terminals and banks of modems. It has general technical info on the serial port including troubleshooting it.
• Low-Level Terminal Interface part of "GNU C Library Reference Manual" (in libc (or glibc) docs package). It covers the detailed meaning of "stty" commands, etc.
• NCURSES-Programming-HOWTO
• MacTerminal mini-HOWTO
• Modem-HOWTO
• Serial-Programming-HOWTO
• NC mini-HOWTO
• NCD-X-Terminal mini-HOWTO
• XDM-and-X-Terminal mini-HOWTO
• Connecting-X-Terminals-to-Linux-Mini-HOWTO
• NCD-HOWTO
• Thinclient-HOWTO
• Xterminals-HOWTO
• Xterm-Title-HOWTO (only for changing the title of a window)

1.5 Terminology Used in this Document

Configuration means the same as set-up. While Linux commands take options (using - or -- symbols), options in a broader sense include various other types of choices. Install in the broad sense includes setting up (configuring) software and hardware. A statement that I suspect is true (but may not be) ends with 2 question marks: ?? If you know for sure, let me know.

1.6 What is a Terminal ?

A terminal consists of a screen and keyboard that one uses to communicate remotely with a (host) computer. One uses it almost like it was a personal computer but the terminal is remote from its host computer (on the other side of the room or even on the other side of the world). Programs execute on the host computer but the results display on the terminal screen. The terminal's computational ability is relatively low compared to the host computer but often the terminal is just a personal computer (PC) itself which has been programmed to behave like a terminal. It often doesn't allow the user full access to either the PC it runs on nor the host it is connected to. You'll find this type of terminal at libraries and schools. But some terminals permit the user to log into the host computer and provide access dependent on the user's status.

1.7 What is a Text-Terminal ?

A text-terminal is a terminal which only displays text on the screen without pictures. Today, it's mostly done by PCs which emulate the terminals of olden days.

Real text terminals

In the olden days of mainframes, from the mid 1970's to the mid 1980's, most people used real text-terminals to communicate with large computers. These real text-terminals were neither computers nor emulated text-terminals. They consisted only of a screen, keyboard, and only enough memory to store a screenfull or so of text (a few kilobytes). Users typed in programs, ran programs, wrote documents, issued printing commands, etc. A cable connected the terminal to the computer (often indirectly). It was called a terminal since it was located at the terminal end of this cable. Some text-terminals were called "graphic" but the resolution was poor and the speed slow by today's standards due to the high cost of memory and the limited speed of the conventional serial port, etc.

Today, real terminals are becoming rarities and most people that use terminals use a personal computer to emulate a terminal. Almost everyone who uses Linux uses terminal emulation. When you are not using an X Window GUI at a Linux PC, you are likely using a text interface (virtual terminal). It's also called a command line interface. In X Window one can also get one or more terminal windows (xterm, rxvt, or zterm). All these use software to emulate a real terminal.

A real text-terminal is different from a monitor because the simple character images that get displayed on the text-terminal are stored right inside the terminal in it's memory. For a monitor, the complex images are stored in the video card of the PC and/or in the PC's memory itself. The text-terminal's keyboard plugs into the the terminal and is part of the terminal while a PC's keyboard plugs into the computer.

For a monitor, the video images are sent by a short cable running from the video card to the monitor while for a text-terminal there is a bi-directional flow of character bytes in a long cable between the computer's serial port and the PC it's connected to. Most text terminals do not have mice.

In network client-server terminology, one might think that the terminal is the client and that the host computer is the server. The terminal has been called a "thin client" by some. But it is not actually a "client" nor is the host a "server". The only "service" the host provides is to receive every letter typed at the keyboard and react to this just like a computer would if you typed at its keyboard. The terminal is like a window into the computer just like a monitor (and keyboard) are. You may have already used virtual terminals in Linux (by pressing Left Alt-F2, etc.). A real terminal is just like running such a virtual terminal but you run it on its own terminal screen instead of having to share the monitor screen. In contrast to using a virtual terminal at the console (monitor), this allows another person to sit at a terminal and use the same computer simultaneously with others.