<jargon> Working under a non-window-based operating system (e.g. MS-DOS) as opposed to a graphical user interface (e.g. Microsoft Windows).
An MS-DOS text-based program uses a screen with a fixed array of 80x25 or 80x40 characters. Examples are WordPerfect before version 5.1 and Microsoft Word.
(1995-03-16)
Try this search on Wikipedia, OneLook, Google
Nearby terms: Texinfo « TeX point « text « text-based » text editor » Text Encoding Initiative » text file