Terminals and Types: DUMB, SMART & INTELLIGENT

Terminals: 

A terminals is an input device that consists of a keyboard, a video display screen and a communications line to a mainframe computer system.

Figure: Example of terminal

Terminals are three types:

1. DUMB: A dumb terminal can be used only to input data to and receive information from a computer system. That is, it can’t do any processing on its own. 
2. SMART: A smart terminal can do input and output and has some limited processing capability. It may be able to editor verify data before it is sent to a larger computer. It can’t be used to do programming that is creating new instruction. Example of smart terminals is Automatic Teller Machines (ATM).
3. INTELLIGENT: An intelligent terminal is essentially a full-fledged microcomputer with a communication link. That is, an intelligent terminal is a “stand-alone” device with its own input, output, processing and storage capacity and its own software.