Emacs has a "vip" mode, in which it emulates vi commands.
I prefer this method, since it allows one to combine the best features of
both vi and emacs.  (I prefer most emacs commands, except i can move
around a file more quickly with vi commands.)



PROS AND CONS of using emacs' vip-mode
Here is a list of +'s and -'s; in my mind, the +'s outweight the -'s. 

         emacs
 + can "undo" back many times
 + can split the window, so you can easily yank in one window and
   "put" in another (so easier to copy text between files)
 + when in insert mode, you can use all the emacs control-commands;
   if you insert some stuff, then back up, you can use ^F to move
   forward (whereas vi loses the stuff you back up over, and you have
   to retype it).  Or, ^A will move you to the beginning of line while
   remaining in insert mode.
 + "v" and "V" supercede ":e" for visiting a new file (handier, too)
 - ":e" doesn't work (this is a bug; the documentation says it should work)
 o emacs treats the line-feed as any other character, so sitting on the
   end of line and hitting "x" is equivalent to "j".  This is confusing
   after using vi, but when i was learning vi i thought the way it handled
   line-feeds was curtailing; it takes getting used to.
 + you can re-justify an entire paragraph easily, after changing a line in
   the middle of it.  (Is there a vi way to do that?  Please tell me if there
   is; i still use vi on occasion.)
 + when typing a filename to visit, <tab> will do filename completion for you
   (also, you can use ~, *, and ? when specifying file names).
 + if you are editting several files at the same time, ^X-b lets you
   quickly switch between buffers, which i do all the time.
 + can use mouse to position cursor in X
 + emacs has added commands, and also lets some commands take a numeric
   argument that vi doesn't.  For instance, you can mark a region, and
   then use "dr", "yr", etc, to delete or yank it.
 - when you ESC out of insert mode, emacs doesn't backspace a character
   like vi does.  This should be fixable...
 - when you use "c$" to try to change-to-end-of-line, vi lets you add
   several lines, while emacs only replaces one line
 + emacs automatically saves a checkpoint of your file every 300 keystrokes.
 - you do need to know some emacs stuff to keep you from getting frustrated,
   so there's a small initial learning cost.
 - minibuffer and help screens still use emacs-mode, not vip-mode
   (this might be changeable, though i don't (yet) know how).
   (^Z will put you back into vip-mode, but you shouldn't have to do that.)
 + in emacs' vip-mode, ^T will transpose two characters (which is one of
   my more frequent typos)
 - emacs is big (though doesn't take longer to start up than vi)
 + you can modify emacs key bindings to your likings.
 o using 'a to go to mark a works between different files (i.e., marks
   are universal, not one set for each buffer)
 - In emacs' help mode, you can't call "describe-key" on a key which
   begins with escape, as it stops at escape being bound to vip-esc.
 - there may be a few more annoying differences about vi and emacs' vip-mode
   that i haven't noticed.

TO TRY EMACS' VIP-MODE:
If you want to try it out, copy .emacs and .vip from my directory, and
perhaps the emacs lines from my .Xresources.  In emacs type "M-x info"
("M-x" means "esc x"; "M" stands for "meta".  That's the first bit of
the emacs startup learning cost.) to see documentation
about the improved vi commands, and about rudimentary emacs knowledge.
And hopefully, i'll figure out how to fix the first and maybe even the second
of those - points above.

ian

(oh--you may want to remove the last line from my .vip,
so the variable "vip-inhibit-startup-message" isn't set to false right away.)