Editing Text-based user interface (section)

== Under DOS and Microsoft Windows ==
[[File:Fdedit.png|thumb|300px|The [[FreeDOS]] Edit user interface]]
On [[IBM Personal Computer]]s and [[IBM PC compatible|compatibles]], the Basic Input Output System ([[BIOS]]) and [[DOS]] system calls provide a way to write text on the screen, and the [[ANSI.SYS]] driver could process standard ANSI escape sequences. However, programmers soon learned that writing data directly to the [[screen buffer]] was far faster and simpler to program, and less error-prone; see [[VGA-compatible text mode]] for details. This change in programming methods resulted in many DOS TUI programs. {{anchor|Windows}}The [[Windows console]] environment is notorious for its emulation of certain EGA/VGA text mode features, particularly random access to the text buffer, even if the application runs in a window. On the other hand, programs running under Windows (both native and DOS applications) have much less control of the display and keyboard than Linux and DOS programs can have, because of aforementioned Windows console layer.

[[File:itmouse.png|thumb|300px|left|Mouse cursor in [[Impulse Tracker]]. A more precise cursor (per-pixel resolution) was achieved by regenerating the glyphs of characters used where the cursor was visible, at each mouse movement in real-time.{{citation needed|date=December 2011}}]]

Most often those programs used a blue background for the main screen, with white or yellow characters, although commonly they had also user color customization. They often used [[box-drawing character]]s in IBM's [[code page 437]]. Later, the interface became deeply influenced by [[graphical user interface]]s (GUI), adding [[pull-down menu]]s, overlapping [[window (computing)|windows]], [[dialog box]]es and [[GUI widget]]s operated by [[mnemonics (keyboard)|mnemonics]] or [[keyboard shortcut]]s. Soon [[computer mouse|mouse]] input was added&nbsp;– either at text resolution as a simple colored box or at graphical resolution thanks to the ability of the [[Enhanced Graphics Adapter]] (EGA) and [[Video Graphics Array]] (VGA) display adapters to [[VGA-compatible text mode#Fonts|redefine the text character shapes by software]]&nbsp;– providing additional functions.

Some notable programs of this kind were [[Microsoft Word]], [[DOS Shell]], [[WordPerfect]], [[Norton Commander]], [[Turbo Vision]] based [[Borland]] [[Turbo Pascal]] and [[Borland Turbo C|Turbo C]] (the latter included the [[conio.h|conio]] [[library (computer science)|library]]), [[Lotus 1-2-3]] and many others. Some of these interfaces survived even during the [[Microsoft]] [[Windows 3.1x]] period in the early 1990s. For example, the [[Microsoft C]] 6.0 compiler, used to write true GUI programs under [[16-bit]] Windows, still has its own TUI.

Since its start, [[Microsoft Windows]] includes a console to display DOS software. Later versions added the [[Windows console]] as a native interface for [[command-line interface]] and TUI programs. The console usually opens in window mode, but it can be switched to full, true text mode screen and vice versa by pressing the [[Alt key|Alt]] and [[Enter key|Enter]] keys together. Full-screen mode is not available in Windows Vista and later, but may be used with some workarounds.<ref>[http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/w7itprohardware/thread/3cc6994e-cbc2-4844-b040-a3c8385c69a5 cmd prompt full screen in Windows 7]. Social.technet.microsoft.com. Retrieved on 2013-06-15.</ref>
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[[Windows Terminal]] is a [[Tabbed|multi-tabbed]] [[terminal emulator]] that [[Microsoft]] has developed for [[Windows 10]] and later<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/6/18527870/microsoft-windows-terminal-command-line-tool|title=Microsoft unveils Windows Terminal, a new command line app for Windows|first=Tom|last=Warren|date=May 6, 2019|website=The Verge}}</ref> as a replacement for [[Windows Console]]. 

The [[Windows Subsystem for Linux]] which was added to Windows by [[Microsoft]] in 2019, supports running [[Linux]] text-based apps on Windows, within [[Windows console]], [[Windows Terminal]], and other Windows-based terminals.