VI annoyance

[Jerry Feldman]

On 08/11/2010 07:53 AM, Matt Shields wrote:
> I've been using VI for about 5-6 years, previous I was a die-hard pico/=
nano
> user.  I was forced to switch during my last job where there could be
> multiple people working on the same systems, and possibly wanting to ed=
it
> the same files.  So vi's file locking when one person's editing was the=

> reason everyone was forced to use VI.
>
> Anyway, 99% of the systems I manage are RHEL/Fedora/CentOS flavors and =
I've
> been able to use the arrow keys instead of HJKL, I've also been able to=
 hit
> either i, I, o, O, a or A to go into insert mode (yes, I know how each =
is
> different) and start typing/editing but also continue to use the arrow =
keys
> to move around while in edit mode, then continue editing till you final=
ly
> hit ESC or CTRL-c.
>
> But, now I have a bunch of Ubuntu boxes I need to manage and I have thi=
s
> 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 bu=
t the
> arrow keys start putting garbage characters and carriage returns into t=
he
> file.  I also used to be able to not only insert, but while I was typin=
g I
> used to be able to delete.
>
>  =20
I hate that. Recently one of the guys in the office who does not know vi
very well ran into that while logged in to a Solaris box. I've seen this
in cases where the network is on the slow side. The arrow keys generate
an ASCII escape sequence and depending on the network, the receiving
system may not interpret them correctly.  I just tested my new netbook
that is running Ubuntu Lucid Lynx over a wireless connection in my
office, and the arrow keys work fine.

--=20
Jerry Feldman <gaf-mNDKBlG2WHs at public.gmane.org>
Boston Linux and Unix
PGP key id: 537C5846
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