From LQWiki

A console or terminal emulator is a command line interface to a shell. You can use it to call shell commands and start programs by using your keyboard only. The console typically prints a prompt and expects you to enter your commands behind it. Here is an example:

bort:/boot # ls initrd*
initrd  initrd-2.6.22.17-0.1-default  initrd-2.6.22.17-0.1-xen  initrd-xen
bort:/boot # firefox

To use a console, press ALT_F2 and input the name of a console program as listed below.

Terminal emulators

• aterm
• Eterm
• Konsole
• minicom
• root-tail
• rxvt
• wterm
• xterm
• Xfce

Helper programs

• screen
• script