When they are graphical, they are sometimes called terminal windows. Command line work is always in text mode and is absent of a GUI technically, a terminal emulator can be graphical. It does not present a Graphical User Interface (GUI), but rather work on the command line is accomplished within a shell. For example, a shell is an actual application itself and not just a window. Although many people think of a terminal emulator as synonymous with a shell terminal, the command line or a text terminal, there are slight differences in these words. Terminal application and TTY are terms used to refer to a terminal emulator. Linux and Unix administrators frequently use terminal emulators to access various computers such as a web or File Transfer Protocol (FTP) server. Instead of needing a physical monitor and keyboard for the express purpose of accessing the resources of a central computer, terminal emulators were developed to allow software to take the place of hardware.

These specialized computers typically are servers equipped with large amounts of memory, high storage capacity and very fast, powerful processors to handle multiple requests from client computers. Hardware terminals allow access to the data and software programs installed or stored on centralized computers, often referred to as mainframes. A terminal emulator is a a computer application that emulates or behaves like a hardware terminal composed of at least a keyboard and monitor.

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