
\S synchronous transmission:  asynchronous transmission \S

Data can be transmitted between a terminal and computer in either
synchronous or asynchronous transmission. For synchronous transmission,
characters are sent across transmission lines in preestablished numbers 
in one continuous stream.  The terminal and computer must have the same 
phase, that is they must both send and receive the same number of 
characters so that they know which "bit"\S*\S begins a character.

In asynchronous transmission, one character is transmitted at a time.  Each
character is marked by a start and stop signal which tells the receiving
terminal or computer when to start and stop sampling bits that make up the
character.  UNIX systems usually use asynchronous transmission.

\S*\S defined in the \Sglossary\S
