How come in my Ubunto's vi, if I try to navigate with the cursor keys while in insert mode it does not move the cursor? Instead it just inserts either an A, B, C, or D

On my knoppix installation I do not have this problem and can use the cursor keys to navigate in insert mode.

However, it should be noted that my knoppix install does not run on my laptop since since it is on a USB the laptop can't boot. In other words, my ubunto is installed on my laptop so it is using a laptop keybord while the knoppix is using a standard keyboard if that makes any difference.

What cursor keys are you talking about? The arrow keys, or your h,j,k,l keys?

The arrow keys.

To think about it, I don't think ubuntu ships with the full out vi or vim. Try a apt-get install vim and see if you can install any updates for vim and/or install the full thing. (Vim-tiny I think it would be called?)

You can also try setting the following in your .vimrc file:

1 members found this post helpful.

thanks! that's what i was looking for

Glad to hear! Give rep and mark your thread as solved if you can, thanks!