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A terminal emulator for X Window that is used to provide command line access to the operating system. Since X Window allows applications to run on any computer in the network, the xterm executable can be running on one computer, displaying on another and managing a session on a third computer. See X Window.
| xterm | |
 A sample xterm, running the BASH shell, showing a list of /etc. |
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| Developer: | Thomas Dickey |
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| Latest release: | Patch #229 / August 12, 2007 |
| OS: | X Window System |
| Genre: | Terminal emulator |
| License: | MIT/X Consortium License |
| Website: | http://invisible-island.net/xterm/ |
In computing, xterm is the standard terminal emulator for the X Window System. A user can have many different invocations of xterm running at once on the same display, each of which provides independent input/output for the process running in it (normally the process is a Unix shell).
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, 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 [1], "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 (which itself forked from X11R6.3), and xterm is presently maintained by Thomas Dickey.
Many xterm variants are also available.[1] 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.
This article was originally based on material from the Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, which is licensed under the GFDL.
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
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 | Computer Desktop Encyclopedia. THIS COPYRIGHTED DEFINITION IS FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY. All other reproduction is strictly prohibited without permission from the publisher. © 1981-2008 Computer Language Company Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Xterm". Read more |
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