[lizknope]

Today if we say "open an xterm and type this command" we mean to start a program that runs in a window that has a text interface with a command line.

Here is an X terminal from around 1990.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_terminal

It displayed everything over the network via X11 from a more powerful workstation / server.

> Datapro wrote in 1991 that X terminals could provide windowing capability, high-resolution graphics and relatively fast processing for prices starting around US$1,500, compared with workstations that could cost more than US$10,000.

[SoftTalker]

Used these at work at my first job. A dozen developers, each with an HP X Terminal all booting/running programs off of a central HPUX server that was less powerful and had less RAM than a basic desktop PC of today.

[coredog64]

Similar situation at my first job. I got yelled at for running Xeyes because it chewed up too much CPU.

[wolvoleo]

I got yelled at for running xeyes on a 5 metre video wall. Couldn't resist.

[wolvoleo]

Ps I got in serious shit but it was worth it :) I was young but I probably would do it again.

[pjmlp]

When I got to the university, we had a DG/UX server, the usual green and ambar phosphor text terminals, and the few lucky ones IBM X Windows terminals, which were mostly used to manage several xterms, given the choice of applications at the time.