dumb terminal

Screen without brains

A dumb terminal is a computer display and keyboard that has no processing power of its own—it simply sends keystrokes to a central computer and displays what comes back.

The term distinguishes these devices from "smart" or "intelligent" terminals that can process data locally.

Dumb terminals were common before personal computers became widespread: The office had rows of dumb terminals connected to the mainframe.

hardware

monitor

Display or supervisor

CRT · workstation · peripheral · device · serial port · console · green screen · cathode ray · coaxial cable · controller

interface

command line

Text-based computer interface

console · telnet · SSH · login · session · ASCII · monochrome · ANSI · scrollback

legacy

obsolete

No longer in use

superseded · vintage · retro · legacy system · computer lab · data center · batch processing · historical

architecture

mainframe

Large centralized computer system

  • hostOne receiving guests
  • clientOne who hires professionals
  • serverOne who attends tables

centralized · time-sharing · multi-user · remote access · session · connection · network · minicomputer · polling

Opposites
processing capability

dumb terminalpersonal computer

Individual-use computing machine

workstation · PC · desktop computer · microcomputer · laptop

functional autonomy

dumb terminalembedded system

Dedicated computer within machinery

Family

dumb, terminal, dumber, dumbest, dumbly, dumbness, dumbbell, dumbfound, dumbfounded

Familiarity
Top 500,000
Profile
Used worldwide · Concrete · Rated G