1. A file containing a listing (e.g. assembly listing) or a
transcript, especially a file containing a transcript of all
or part of a login session. (The idea was that the paper for
such listings was essentially good only for wallpaper, as
evidenced at
Stanford, where it was used to cover windows).
The term is now rare, especially since other systems have
developed other terms for it (e.g. PHOTO on
TWENEX).
However, the
Unix world doesn't have an equivalent term, so
perhaps wallpaper will take hold there. The term probably
originated on
ITS, where the commands to begin and end
transcript files were ":WALBEG" and ":WALEND", with default
file "WALL PAPER" (the space was a path delimiter).
2. The background pattern used on graphical workstations under
(1994-12-22)