Dumb terminals are display and input devices which don't process data
 and input locally, instead transmitting input to a computer to which it
 is connected and displaying the resulting output.

  Many people, especially the press, seem to confuse the idea of Network
 Computers with that of dumb terminals, referring to NCs as "dumbed
 down" computers. This is not true, unlike dumb terminals which simply
 display the output of a program running on a server elsewhere on the
 network, Network Computers actually do local processing and are much
 closer to PCs than to dumb terminals.

  Some Network Computers however do support protocols, such as X Window
 and ICA, which allow them to be used as dumb terminals to display the
 output of a program running on a server in additional to programs
 running locally, so that they are backwards compatible.

Some parts © 2009 Advameg, Inc.