Terminal emulator

A terminal emulator is a program that runs on a computer - now usually a personal computer such as a laptop or desktop - which allows the machine to emulate an old terminal, usually a video terminal. The computer on which the emulator is running is usually one which has an asynchronous serial line port, although on personal computers now, those are often provided by a USB device plugged into them, since serial ports are usually no longer standard equipment on them.

Terminal Simulators

The suggested term "terminal simulator" means software and/or hardware that models some terminal down to hardware detail level. This category of technology has not yet been widely explored, but e.g. there are simulators that run the VT100 ROM.