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The Linux Programming Interface
book

The Linux Programming Interface

by Michael Kerrisk
October 2010
Intermediate to advanced
1552 pages
45h 39m
English
No Starch Press
Content preview from The Linux Programming Interface

62TERMINALS

Historically, users accessed a UNIX system using a terminal connected via a serial line (an RS-232 connection). Terminals were cathode ray tubes (CRTs) capable of displaying characters and, in some cases, primitive graphics. Typically, CRTs provided a monochrome display of 24 lines by 80 columns. By today’s standards, these CRTs were small and expensive. In even earlier times, terminals were sometimes hard-copy teletype devices. Serial lines were also used to connect other devices, such as printers and modems, to a computer or to connect one computer to another.

On early UNIX systems, the terminal lines connected to the system were represented by character devices with names of the form /dev/ttyn. (On Linux, the /dev/ttyn devices ...

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Publisher Resources

ISBN: 9781593272203Errata Page