Hi: I have a text file (plain ASCII) of 5MB size. If I open it with vi,
make some modification and save it, 10 seconds at least elapse before
I am given the prompt again. But if I do the same with vim, it takes under 1 second to save the file. What can be the cause of such a notable difference?

This Stack Exchange thread seems to bear on your question. Apparently it has to do with how the two programs handle the their tmp files prior to and during saving.

A web search for "vi vim large files" turns up a number of other links that seem relevant.

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I guess it could do with how the two were compiled. vi version you have may be very very old while the vim quite new. (dunno, wild guessing here) Although vi should be pure C and quite small. It simply may not address modern hardware well on your system.

Open top command and see if you notice anything on this. I'd too agree that swap file and access to various mounts and such could cause an issue.

vim info. http://www.vim.org/6k/features.en.txt


I'd assume that vi on slack is really vi and not a link to vim. Oops.
http://www.slackbook.org/html/vi.html

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On Slackware Linux, the default version of vi available is elvis. Other versions - including vim and gvim - are available if you've installed the proper packages. gvim is an X Window version of vim that includes toolbars, detachable menus, and dialog boxes."

Yes, indeedy-do, Slackware includes both vi and vim. They are very definitely two distinct programs. If you dig hard enough in Slackware, you'll probably find a that kitchen sink.

Other distros I've hopped, Mageia for one, aliases vi to vim, so that, when you type "vi," you get "vim."

On some distros, you have vi and vim from different source code. But on RedHat, Debian (by default) you have vi from the Vim source code but with a tiny or small build configuration, while vim gives a bigger version.

http://www.slackbook.org/html/vi.html

"

On Slackware Linux, the default version of vi available is elvis. Other versions - including vim and gvim - are available if you've installed the proper packages. gvim is an X Window version of vim that includes toolbars, detachable menus, and dialog boxes."