Avatar




1. <chat, virtual reality> An image representing a user in a multi-user virtual reality (or VR-like, in the case of Palace) space.

2. (CMU, Tektronix) root, superuser.

There are quite a few Unix computers on which the name of the superuser account is "avatar" rather than "root".

This quirk was originated by a CMU hacker who disliked the term "superuser", and was propagated through an ex-CMU hacker at Tektronix.

[Jargon File]



< Previous Terms Terms Containing avatar Next Terms >
auxiliary storage
av
availability
Avalon/C++
Avalon/Common LISP
av
avatar
Palace
root
Shub-Internet
average seek time
AverStar
AVI
Avon
AVS