Magic
You are right, but what I ment to said a "dumb terminal" is when not
connected to anything... Just sitting there for one purpose,only Data entry.
Here is the better definition of dumb terminal:
dumb Terminal Definition
A dumb terminal is a computer terminal that consists mostly of just a display
monitor and a keyboard (and perhaps a mouse as well). It has no internal CPU
(central processing unit), and thus has little or no processing power.
Likewise, there is no hard disk drive (HDD).
A terminal is a device that allows communications with a computer. Dumb
terminals are connected to a network that includes one or more servers, which
are computers with sufficient processing power to run any application
programs that are being accessed through the dumb terminals.
Dumb terminals were sometimes called glass teletypes because they were
similar to teletype machines to which display monitors (whose front surfaces
are made from glass) were added. Also referred to as a teletypewriter and
given the acronym TTY, a teletype machine is a now generally obsolete
electro-mechanical typewriter that was widely used to communicate typed
messages from point to point through a simple electrical communications
channel. Teletypewriters were also used as the first computer terminals.
The terms smart terminal, network computer and thin client are sometimes used
to refer to enhanced dumb terminals that provide additional resources to
perform local editing and simple processing. That is, they have some
processing power, but they still rely on servers in the network for much or
most of their processing and their access to application programs. They
likewise boot from a server in the network. Booting refers to installing the
operating system into the memory of the terminal.
Many businesses and other organizations favored networks of dumb terminals
because they could provide a single operating system with a single version of
software running on it for all users. As they have no moving parts (other
than the keys on the keyboard) that can break down or lose data, dumb
terminals can provide greater virus resistance and data security as compared
with full-fledged personal computers, and they can be more reliable. They are
also quiet, easy-to-deploy, and simple to manage remotely. However, some
users did not like their restricted ability to control the processing of
information on such systems.
In contrast to earlier dumb-terminals, today's thin clients provide much more
user-friendly displays, including multiple windows, web browsing and other
features of conventional personal computers.
Dumb terminals were produced by a number of major companies in the 1970s and
early 1980s, including DEC, Heath, IBM, Lear-Siegler, Televideo and Wyse.
However, the rapid drop in the cost and increase in the power of personal
computers made it more economical for businesses to use them in place of
dedicated dumb terminals. It is very easy to configure personal computers so
that they can emulate dumb terminals, thin clients, or terminals with any
desired level of intelligence.
