pager - definition

 
1. <hardware, communications> (Or "beeper", "bleeper" (UK?))
A small wireless receiver that, when triggered (generally via
phone), will beep or vibrate (un)pleasantly.  The wearer will
have been trained to respond to this signal by looking at a
small screen on the device for an unimportant message.
 
In recent years, pagers have grown more complex, allowing for
long alphanumeric messages to be received and scrolled
though (as opposed to earlier models, which supported only
short numeric messages); at the same time as pager functions
are integrated into some PDAs.  If this trend continues, the
distinction between PDAs and high-end pagers will
disappear.
 
Short Message Service allows a mobile phone to display a
message, just like an alphanumeric pager.
 
2. <tool> A program for viewing a text file a screenful at a
time via a text terminal, as opposed to scrolling through it
in a GUI window, or catting it all at once to the
terminal.
 
The best known pagers are more, less, pg and list.com.
 
(1997-09-11)