Unlike Terminal, users can have several instances of xterm running at the same time.īoth Terminal and xterm are terminal emulator programs that allow the use of terminal in graphical environment.

Plus, you can also create your own desktop launcher to open xterm window. You must install in first and launch xterm from another terminal emulator such as Terminal. However, in GNOME desktop environment, xterm is not installed by default. You can simply type xterm in the Terminal window and hit enter and it will launch the X11 environment along with an xterm window. XTerm is the default terminal emulator program for Linux systems running the X Windows System. One of the simplest methods is to hold Ctrl + Alt +T keys at the same time that will launch the Terminal Window. Each desktop environment has different methods to access the Terminal. Other desktop environments like Ubuntu also use Terminal as their default terminal emulator package. Simply put, Terminal is the Linux desktop environment’s default terminal emulator. It’s one of the most powerful features of Linux that provide users access to the command line interface. Terminal to Linux is like Command Prompt to Windows. Terminal is a command line interface which allows users to communicate with the computer in the same way the written word is for human beings. Although, xterm may seem a bit classic, it’s still the default terminal for the X Windows System which based on the philosophy of text only.

Linux systems running the X Windows System use “xterm” as their default terminal emulator program. However, Linux offers a number of terminal emulators exclusive to every GUI version. Terminal is where the true power of the Linux rests.

Terminal is one of the most important applications for Linux users that provides users access to the shell. The built-in terminal emulator for Windows is “Command prompt”, while Mac OS X uses “Terminal” as its terminal emulation application which is located in /Application/Utilities. Command line often is the best way to go on Linux systems because most of the tasks work best with the console. Terminal emulators are mostly used by system administrators because some built-in command line programs are not able to work on their own so third-party terminal emulators are used to talk to the system. It simply replicates the functionality of classic computer terminals. A terminal emulator is basically a terminal application that allows the user to access programs that are originally developed to communicate with some other type of terminal. Both xterm and Terminal are terminal emulators common to UNIX based systems running the X Windows System.

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