Dumb TerminalA dumb terminal is a display device with attached keyboard that relies on the intelligence of another computer to drive its display and interpret its keyboard inputs. Such devices were the norm in the heyday of the mainframe and minicomputer, and are still widely used for reservation systems, point-of-sale, and other specialized-use applications.
A dumb terminal has an addressable cursor and input capability but no on-screen editing or other features normally supported by a smart terminal. It is one step above a glass tty, a terminal that has a display screen but which, because of hardware or software limitations, behaves essentially like a teletype or printing device.
With the Internet service Telnet, a user's computer (a smart terminal) emulates a dumb terminal as it uses the capabilities of other computers across the network.