Vi editor in single user mode .

[donne007]

Hi team.
When i Log in as a single user and set the TERM =Hp after mounting i,m not able to edit any files using Vi editor .. the error it throws is ..
"I don't know what kind of terminal youare on - all I have is 'Unknown' [using open mode]
Can any one help on this.
Thanks in Advance
Asif

[Sridhar Bhaskarla]

Hi Asif,

It is case sensitive. Use "hp".

-Sri

[donne007]

Yeah sri, I tried usig TERM=hp and could'nt write/edit in any file

[Ted Ellis_2]

any chance that vt100 will work...?

[Bill Hassell]

In (true) single user mode, the automatic features such as identifying what terminal you are using (out out of the hundreds of incompatible terminals there are) will not run since nothing but / and /stand are mounted.

It is impossible to to run vi without properly identifying the terminal you are using. Start by mounting /var and /usr:

mount /var
mount /usr

Then use ttytype to identify the terminal:

eval $(ttytype -s)

Now see what was returned:

echo $TERM

It should match the device that you have connected to the console. Don't force the TERM value to some random terminal ID, vi will not be happy.

[Martin Robinson]

It is possible to use vi when in single user run level. As you say, it says it will use 'open mode'.

Although a bit tricky, this is a perfectly valid way of using vi. It is the fallback mode when it doesn't recognise the terminal type. It just takes a bit of getting used to.

The normal movement keys, hjkl and so on, work as you would expect.

You might prefer to use ex (command line) mode.

[Joaquin Gil de Vergara]

reason is that terminals are compiled under

/usr/lib/terminfo

(see tic and untic man pages)

mount /usr and set TERM variable

[Andreas Voss]

Hi,

possibly in single user mode
the variable TERM is not exported.

Try:
TERM=hp ; export TERM
vi .....

Regards