The following sections of this BookRags Literature Study Guide is offprint from Gale's For Students Series: Presenting Analysis, Context, and Criticism on Commonly Studied Works: Introduction, Author Biography, Plot Summary, Characters, Themes, Style, Historical Context, Critical Overview, Criticism and Critical Essays, Media Adaptations, Topics for Further Study, Compare & Contrast, What Do I Read Next?, For Further Study, and Sources.
(c)1998-2002; (c)2002 by Gale. Gale is an imprint of The Gale Group, Inc., a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Gale and Design and Thomson Learning are trademarks used herein under license.
The following sections, if they exist, are offprint from Beacham's Encyclopedia of Popular Fiction: "Social Concerns", "Thematic Overview", "Techniques", "Literary Precedents", "Key Questions", "Related Titles", "Adaptations", "Related Web Sites". (c)1994-2005, by Walton Beacham.
The following sections, if they exist, are offprint from Beacham's Guide to Literature for Young Adults: "About the Author", "Overview", "Setting", "Literary Qualities", "Social Sensitivity", "Topics for Discussion", "Ideas for Reports and Papers". (c)1994-2005, by Walton Beacham.
All other sections in this Literature Study Guide are owned and copyrighted by BookRags, Inc.
An X terminal is a computer that lacks a disk. Accordingly, X terminals do not have (house) resident applications. X terminals are designed to connect a user to network applications that are running in an X server; a server operating in a network that uses the X Window system. In turn the X Window system is a network of interconnected mainframe computers, minicomputers, and workstations.
X terminals are usually connected to a server whose operating system is a Unix- or Linux-based system. They are thought of as being a predecessor of today's network computers. Because the computational power resides in the server rather than in the X terminal, these terminals can, in many cases, be old computers that as stand alone systems do not have the capacity to run the programs being used. The server powers the programs and the display is exported to the X terminal monitor.
Older computers are able to function as X terminals because only the minimum amount of commands for the display of the operative program are actually sent to the terminal. The terminal needs only the ability and capacity to request information from the displayed program in a point and click fashion. An X terminal is thus a way to utilize a computer that would be independently nonfunctional for complex computational procedures.
Use of X terminal allows a multiple user network to be constructed relatively inexpensively. For home, telecommuting, or small office applications, this often an attractive option to more expensive network capable computers.