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What's the difference between Terminal in Ubuntu desktop (Applications>Accessories>Terminal) and xterm? They look very similar.

alwbtc
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The difference is that xterm is the standard terminal emulator of the X Window System, while gnome-terminal is the standard terminal emulator of the GNOME project.

They are similar because both are terminal emulators.

For more information about why terminals need to be emulated and what a "real" or a "virtual" terminal is read this question and answer: https://askubuntu.com/questions/14284/why-is-a-virtual-terminal-virtual-and-what-why-where-is-the-real-terminal.

A terminal is not a shell. To learn about the difference between a terminal and a shell read this question and answer: https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/4126/what-is-the-exact-difference-between-a-terminal-a-shell-a-tty-and-a-con.

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Lesmana
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  • Why can't I use "setenv" command in xterm? – alwbtc Oct 09 '11 at 13:28
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    most likely because you are running [bash](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bash_%28Unix_shell%29) inside xterm. setenv is a [csh](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C_shell) command. It appears to me that you are confusing the terminal with a shell. Learn the difference. It will help you a lot. – Lesmana Oct 09 '11 at 22:32
  • Well, that is what I wanted to know. Where can I find explanations about the difference of these two? – alwbtc Oct 10 '11 at 06:55
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    I added links to my answer. They should help you understand the differences. – Lesmana Oct 10 '11 at 15:10