What's wrong with vim?

Zeno McDohl · 05-20-2008, 09:14 AM

A vim guide says

Quote:

Go from Normal mode to Insert mode by giving the command "i"

I open a file with vim, I press i, then I press down on the keypad to move down to another line... and it inserts a B. What's going on?

b0uncer · 05-20-2008, 09:28 AM

Are you sure it was in normal mode after you opened the file? Press ESC once or twice to make sure..

Another thing that could be is that it somehow don't get what your keyboard is like, or in other words, gives different output than what you'd expect. Well, I don't believe in that myself..

but anyway. First check that you're in normal mode.

Zeno McDohl · 05-20-2008, 09:40 AM

I hit ESC a few times, pressed i, then pressed down. It inserted a B again. Left is inserting a D, right is inserting a C, up is inserting an A.

The keyboard is fine everywhere else (Firefox, etc). Oh and if it matters I'm using PuTTy.

whk · 05-20-2008, 10:06 AM

On the very basic vi the insert mode does not have movement. You need to ESC to move.
If you want to get more options you may need to download vim-common to your vim-minimal.
ie Synaptic
hth & gl

Maligree · 05-20-2008, 10:31 AM

Actually, just do..

Code:

:set nocompatible

..and it should be back to normal. You might want to add that to your .vimrc.

vadkutya · 05-20-2008, 10:32 AM

that's right. your vim is completely in order. no navigation while in insert mode. modern flavors of vim however support even this. but it's a bad habit. once you are forced to do system maintenance on a unix system you'll know why.

vadkutya