Terminal apps (or programs) have been around for along time. They were originally used to communicate with modems and other equipment over RS-232 serial COM ports.
With the advent of USB, traditional serial ports were abandoned and serial data was instead sent and received using virtual COM ports, with the raw data travelling through USB cables.
Due to their simplicity, virtual serial COM ports remain widely used on Windows, Mac and Linux.
White Rabbit syringe pumps can be controlled using serial port commands. First the terminal program needs to be configured as follows.