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What are they emulating that keeps them from just being terminals? What does a plain-old "terminal" look like, if they are just emulators?

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A terminal is the end of a line. So, back in the day when the computer was a mainframe serving many user accounts, what you'd be sitting at with your keyboard and display would be a terminal.

A terminal emulator is when you're using a computer (a turing machine) to provide the function of a terminal in software. This usage would typically come up because the computer would be 'imitating' a particular type of terminal in order to communicate with the mainframe.

A very popular terminal is/was the VT100. So if I telnet right now to the server of the local freenet (if they still exist) I'd be using VT100 emulation.

Source & more explanations here.

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So when you're using a computer with no DE, just the command-line, would that still be an emulator, since it is just software? – Matthew Jan 16 '10 at 17:23
Trumped again by Molly. I can't compete. ;o) – Iain Jan 16 '10 at 17:30
@Matthew pretty much so, yes. – Molly7244 Jan 16 '10 at 20:39
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up vote 5 down vote

Until the 80's, there were no PCs, but mainframe terminals. These just had a command line interface with no GUI. The Linux terminal emulators we use today emulate the settings of those old terminals.

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+1 for strong competition :o) – Molly7244 Jan 16 '10 at 20:40
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