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The internet tends to give a good description of teletyping when referring to "ancient" computer systems (basically, computers before PCs, lol) but im not sure of how they relate to computers we use today. I read somewhere that the BIOS uses teletyping, and when i go to background terminals in Ubuntu it lists the OS Name, computer name, then tty (which stands for "teletyping")

Could anyone give a complete-as-possible (or as complete as you want) description of the way teletyping is used in modern computers?

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  • "I read somewhere that the BIOS uses teletyping" Where'd you read that? Can you provide a reference? Nov 8, 2015 at 16:44
  • no i can't, sorry my memory is not a scientifically objective or legitamate resource, maybe in the happy utopian society computers will be stuck up everyones butthole so we don't have to think Nov 8, 2015 at 18:06
  • Uhh ok.... Sorry I asked.. Nov 8, 2015 at 18:17
  • nah im sorry, i just don't really like the downvote, it doesn't really seem to help anything Nov 9, 2015 at 3:05

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"Teletype" is brand name for a make of teleprinter (aka TeleTYpewriters), which are a type of device.

As for TTY's usage in Linux - here's a question over on Ask Ubuntu:

What does “TTY” stand for?

From the accepted answer:

Early user terminals connected to computers were electromechanical teleprinters or teletypewriters (TeleTYpewriter, TTY), and since then TTY has continued to be used as the name for the text-only console.

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