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Xterm
 
 
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In computing
Computing

Computing is usually defined as the activity of using and developing computer technology, computer hardware and computer software. It is the computer-specific part of information technology....
, xterm is the standard terminal emulator
Terminal emulator

A terminal emulator, terminal application, term, or tty for short, is a program that emulates a "dumb" video Computer terminal within some other display architecture....
 for the X Window System
X Window System

The X Window System is a computing software system and network protocol that provides a graphical user interface for networked computers. It implements the X Window System protocols and architecture and provides windowing system on raster graphics Visual display units and manages Keyboard and pointing device control functions....
. A user can have many different invocations of xterm running at once on the same display
Display device

A display device is an output device for presentation of information for visual, tactile or Hearing_ reception, acquired, stored, or transmitted in various forms....
, each of which provides independent input/output
Input/output

In computing, input/output, or I/O, refers to the communication between an information processing system , and the outside world ? possibly a human, or another information processing system....
 for the process
Process (computing)

In computing, a process is an Object of a computer program that is being sequentially executed by a computer system that has the ability to run several computer programs Concurrency ....
 running in it (normally the process is a Unix shell
Unix shell

A Unix shell is a command-line interpreter and script host that provides a traditional user interface for the Unix operating system and for Unix-like systems....
).

xterm originated prior to the X Window System. It was originally written as a stand-alone terminal emulator for the VAXStation 100 (VS100) by Mark Vandevoorde, a student of Jim Gettys
Jim Gettys

Jim Gettys is a computer programmer. Until January 2009, he was the Vice President of Software at the One Laptop per Child project, working on the software for the OLPC XO-1....
, in the summer of 1984, when work on X started.






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Encyclopedia


In computing
Computing

Computing is usually defined as the activity of using and developing computer technology, computer hardware and computer software. It is the computer-specific part of information technology....
, xterm is the standard terminal emulator
Terminal emulator

A terminal emulator, terminal application, term, or tty for short, is a program that emulates a "dumb" video Computer terminal within some other display architecture....
 for the X Window System
X Window System

The X Window System is a computing software system and network protocol that provides a graphical user interface for networked computers. It implements the X Window System protocols and architecture and provides windowing system on raster graphics Visual display units and manages Keyboard and pointing device control functions....
. A user can have many different invocations of xterm running at once on the same display
Display device

A display device is an output device for presentation of information for visual, tactile or Hearing_ reception, acquired, stored, or transmitted in various forms....
, each of which provides independent input/output
Input/output

In computing, input/output, or I/O, refers to the communication between an information processing system , and the outside world ? possibly a human, or another information processing system....
 for the process
Process (computing)

In computing, a process is an Object of a computer program that is being sequentially executed by a computer system that has the ability to run several computer programs Concurrency ....
 running in it (normally the process is a Unix shell
Unix shell

A Unix shell is a command-line interpreter and script host that provides a traditional user interface for the Unix operating system and for Unix-like systems....
).

xterm originated prior to the X Window System. It was originally written as a stand-alone terminal emulator for the VAXStation 100 (VS100) by Mark Vandevoorde, a student of Jim Gettys
Jim Gettys

Jim Gettys is a computer programmer. Until January 2009, he was the Vice President of Software at the One Laptop per Child project, working on the software for the OLPC XO-1....
, in the summer of 1984, when work on X started. It rapidly became clear that it would be more useful as part of X than as a standalone program, so it was retargeted to X. As Gettys tells the story, "part of why xterm's internals are so horrifying is that it was originally intended that a single process be able to drive multiple VS100 displays."

After many years as part of the X reference implementation, around 1996 the main line of development then shifted to XFree86
XFree86

XFree86 is an implementation of the X Window System. It was originally written for Unix-like operating systems on IBM PC compatibles and is now available for many other operating systems and platforms....
 (which itself forked from X11R6.3), and xterm is presently maintained by Thomas Dickey
Thomas Dickey

Thomas E. Dickey is a computer programmer. He is best known as the maintainer of various free software applications: Vile , xterm, ncurses, lynx and Dialog . He also maintains many others....
.

Many xterm variants are also available. Most terminal emulators for X started as variations on xterm.

xterm normally does not have a menu bar. To access xterm's three menus, users must hold the Control key and press the left, middle, or right mouse button. Support for a "toolbar" can be compiled-in, which invokes the same menus.

Customization

As with most X
X Window System

The X Window System is a computing software system and network protocol that provides a graphical user interface for networked computers. It implements the X Window System protocols and architecture and provides windowing system on raster graphics Visual display units and manages Keyboard and pointing device control functions....
 applications, xterm can be customized via global X resources
X resources

In the X Window System, the X resources comprise parameters of computer programs such as the name of the font used in the Button s, the background color of Menu s, etc....
 file (e.g. /usr/lib/X11/app-defaults/XTerm), per-user resource files (e.g. ~/XTerm; ~/.Xresources) or command-line arguments. Most of the command-line options correspond to resource settings, as noted in the manual page.

While the name of the program is xterm, the X resource class is XTerm. The uxterm script overrides this, using the UXTerm resource class.

Protocols

xterm added a few protocols that have been adapted by other terminal emulators, like the xterm mouse tracking and the xterm 256 colors protocol.

See also


  • rxvt
    Rxvt

    rxvt is a terminal emulator for the X Window System, originally written by Rob Nation and later extensively modified by Mark Olesen, who took over maintenance for several years....
    , a slimmed-down replacement for xterm.
  • Eterm
    Eterm

    Eterm is a color VT100 terminal emulator for the X Window System, programmed principally by Michael Jennings. It is designed chiefly with the Enlightenment window manager in mind....
  • GNOME Terminal
    GNOME Terminal

    GNOME terminal, also identified as gnome-terminal, is a terminal emulator written by Havoc Pennington and others. It is part of the free software GNOME desktop environment software suite....
    , default GNOME
    Gnome

    A gnome is a mythical creature characterized by its extremely small size and wiktionary:subterranean lifestyle. The word gnome is derived from the New Latin gnomus....
     terminal emulator.
  • Konsole
    Konsole

    Konsole is a Free software terminal emulator which is part of KDE. Konsole was originally written by Lars Doelle.The KDE applications Konqueror, Krusader, Kate , and KDevelop use Konsole to provide embedded terminal functionality....
    , default KDE
    KDE

    KDE is a free software project based around its flagship product, a desktop environment for Unix-like systems. The goal of the project is to provide basic desktop functions and applications for daily needs as well as tools and documentation for developers to write stand-alone applications for the system....
     terminal emulator.
  • Terminal
    Terminal (Xfce)

    Terminal is Xfce's terminal emulator, replacing xterm as default. It takes advantage of Xfwm's built-in compositing to support true transparency....
    , default Xfce
    Xfce

    Xfce is a free software desktop environment for Unix and other Unix-like platforms, such as Linux, Solaris and BSD. It aims to be fast and lightweight, while still being visually appealing and easy to use....
     terminal emulator.
  • Vttest
    Vttest

    Vttest is an application which is used to demonstrate features of VT100 and related terminals, or emulations thereof, such as xterm. The program was originally written in 1986 by Per Lindberg....
     vt100/vt220/xterm test utility


External links

  • on Freshmeat
    Freshmeat

    Freshmeat is a website that allows computer users to keep track of the latest software releases and updates as well as write/read reviews and articles, send or receive comments to or from the author, and many other features....