A computer terminal or data terminal is a device made up of a display unit and a keyboard. It is used to access a computer system. Terminals used to show only characters, but later some terminals could show graphics.
They were developed from teletypewriters. At that time, computers were still very bulky and did not yet have a computer monitor or keyboard on its own.
Some technical terms are:
- terminal interface = a text-based user interface to access computers.
- terminal emulator = a software like PuTTY that emulates a physical terminal. They are still used today to access computers that do not have a graphical user interface.
- terminal adapter = a modem that connects a computer to a telephone line. They are not used anymore.