> Of course the cursor keys work in insert mode in vi.

They have for a long, long, long time.  Unfortunately the insert-mode
mappings for the curser keys in AT&T vi are rather sub-optimal and end
up generating an error 'beep' when you move onto a shorter line.
A trivial alternate mapping (IIRC using 'a' not 'i' to go back into
insert mode) works a lot better.
(All the more fun s had trying to set these on a terminal where the
'down arrow' key generates ^V.)

Of couse, once you start using autoindent, and have tabs, vi gets
completely confused about the column position anyway!
I also suspect than 'nvi' (as on linux) contains some of the AT&T vi
source!  It is far too 'bug compatible' to be a clean room copy.

	David

-- 
David Laight: david@l8s.co.uk