VI annoyance

[blu-Z8efaSeK1ezqlBn2x/YWAg at public.gmane.org (Edward Ned Harvey)]

> From: discuss-bounces-mNDKBlG2WHs at public.gmane.org [mailto:discuss-bounces-mNDKBlG2WHs at public.gmane.org] On
> Behalf Of Matt Shields
> 
> But, now I have a bunch of Ubuntu boxes I need to manage and I have
> this
> weird issue where I can go into insert mode but if I do anything other
> than
> type characters (like arrow keys, or delete) it stays in insert mode

You may be right about .vimrc goodies, but I don't guess so.  I think the
first thing you should look at is whether you're actually using vi, or vim.
For example in solaris, vi is the default, so I install vim, and then alias
vi=vim.  Because vim is better.

Also, if you don't have your terminal properly set up, it can cause really
weird behavior.  Is this behavior the same on the local physical console?
Or does this behavior only happen over the network via ssh?

In addition to all of the above, gvim is yet another step above and beyond
vim.  Assuming you have graphics.