Editing Computer terminal (section)

===Contemporary===
{{Unreferenced section|date=May 2023}}
Even though the early [[IBM Personal Computer|IBM PC]] looked somewhat like a terminal with a green [[monochrome monitor]], it is not classified a terminal since it provides local computing instead of interacting with a server at a character level. With [[terminal emulator]] software, a PC can, however, provide the function of a terminal to interact with a mainframe or minicomputer. Eventually, personal computers greatly reduced market demand for conventional terminals.

In and around the 1990s, ''thin client'' and [[X terminal]] technology combined the relatively economical local processing power with central, shared computer facilities to leverage advantages of terminals over personal computers.

In a GUI environment, such as the [[X Window System]], the display can show multiple programs {{endash}} each in its own window {{endash}} rather than a single stream of text associated with a single program. As a terminal emulator runs in a GUI environment to provide command-line access, it alleviates the need for a physical terminal and allows for multiple windows running separate emulators.