Need help writing a terminal emulator

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Dear Linux gurus,
        Hello, friends! I am a student of electronics at the university of
Pune, in India and as my final year project i'm developing an MIS system
on Linux
and remote data acquisition terminals. I'm using the MCS 51 architecture
for the remote handheld terminals, the terminals will have a 16 character,
2 line LCD display. I want to write a terminal emulator which would enable
me to utilise the usual programs like login etc.. for the remote terminals
I'm also on the lookout for a good database system to use. Could you give
me some pointers on how terminals work? or how to go about writing one, or
where I could get more info ? 
I would be grateful if you could provide me with something.
please reply to :[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Thanking you ,
sincerely
Aalhad Saraf