Ubuntu – the difference between Vi and Vim

On 11.10:

$ vim.tiny --version
VIM - Vi IMproved 7.3 (2010 Aug 15, compiled Oct  6 2011 10:32:12)
Included patches: 1-154
Modified by pkg-vim-maintainers@lists.alioth.debian.org
Compiled by buildd@
Small version without GUI.  Features included (+) or not (-):
-arabic -autocmd -balloon_eval -browse +builtin_terms -byte_offset -cindent 
-clientserver -clipboard -cmdline_compl +cmdline_hist -cmdline_info -comments 
-conceal -cryptv -cscope -cursorbind -cursorshape -dialog -diff -digraphs -dnd 
-ebcdic -emacs_tags -eval -ex_extra -extra_search -farsi -file_in_path 
-find_in_path -float -folding -footer +fork() -gettext -hangul_input +iconv 
-insert_expand +jumplist -keymap -langmap -libcall -linebreak -lispindent 
-listcmds -localmap -lua -menu -mksession -modify_fname -mouse -mouse_dec 
-mouse_gpm -mouse_jsbterm -mouse_netterm -mouse_sysmouse -mouse_xterm 
+multi_byte -multi_lang -mzscheme -netbeans_intg -osfiletype -path_extra -perl 
-persistent_undo -printer -profile -python -python3 -quickfix -reltime 
-rightleft -ruby -scrollbind -signs -smartindent -sniff -startuptime 
-statusline -sun_workshop -syntax -tag_binary -tag_old_static -tag_any_white 
-tcl +terminfo -termresponse -textobjects -title -toolbar -user_commands 
-vertsplit -virtualedit +visual -visualextra -viminfo -vreplace +wildignore 
-wildmenu +windows +writebackup -X11 +xfontset -xim -xsmp -xterm_clipboard 
-xterm_save 
   system vimrc file: "$VIM/vimrc"
     user vimrc file: "$HOME/.vimrc"
      user exrc file: "$HOME/.exrc"
  fall-back for $VIM: "/usr/share/vim"
Compilation: gcc -c -I. -Iproto -DHAVE_CONFIG_H     -Wall -g -O2 -DTINY_VIMRC -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=1      
Linking: gcc   -Wl,-Bsymbolic-functions -Wl,--as-needed -o vim    -lSM -lICE -lXpm -lXt -lX11 -lXdmcp -lSM -lICE -lm -ltinfo  -lselinux -ldl

There are only twelve features enabled (out of one hundred and twenty):

+builtin_terms      Some terminals supported
+cmdline_hist       Command line history
+fork()             Shell commands are forked
+iconv              Extra encoding conversions besides utf8<->latin1
+jumplist           jumplist history, 
                    So you can go back/forward with Ctrl-O/Ctrl-I
+multi_byte         Multibyte characters
+terminfo           Use terminfo instead of termcap
+visual             Visual mode supported (but no blockwise visual mode)
+wildignore         Allow wildcard patterns, to specify files to
                    ignore during filename completion
+windows            Support more than one buffer window
+writebackup        Backup files before overwriting (this either
                    provides this option, or defaults it to on)
+xfontset           X fontset support

The descriptions are based on the feature list link posted by @Caesium.

The missing keybindings etc may be because you are running vim in vi compatible mode - you can turn that off by doing :set nocompatible in vim or adding set nocompatible to you .vimrc file.

I did try Ctrl-W s and that did a split for me while running /usr/bin/vim.tiny while in compatible mode, so that might not be your problem. But I'm not sure what would be in that case. Maybe try making sure there is nothing in your .vimrc file that would stop that working.

Including the vim package, there appear to be at least six "vim-variants" (not including available documentation, or plugin packages) as well as the main vim package in both the main and universe repositories.

Below is a brief summary of each (links go to package description and dependencies in Ubuntu LTS release 20.04 "Focal"):

• vim

Vim compiled and set up with a rather standard set of features. This package does not provide a GUI version of Vim or scripting language support. See the other vim-* packages if you need more (or less).

In order to install this package, run sudo apt-get install vim

• jvim-canna - Japanized VIM (Canna version)

This package allows the entering of Kanji from the console.

In order to install this package, run sudo apt-get install jvim-canna

Depends upon the libcanna1g library

Does not appear to support Perl, Python, Ruby, or TCL scripting.

• vim-athena - enhanced vi editor - compiled with an Athena GUI

  This package is compiled with the Athena GUI as opposed to GTK+ or Gnome.

  See this askubuntu answer for additional details.

  In order to install this package, run sudo apt-get install vim-athena

  Supports Perl, Python, Ruby, and TCL scripting.

• vim-gnome/vim-gtk3 - enhanced vi editor - compiled with a GNOME GUI (GTK2 before 17.10, GTK3 from 17.10)

  In order to install this package, run sudo apt-get install vim-gnome

  Depends upon the libgnome2 library

  Supports Perl, Python, Ruby, and TCL scripting.

• vim-gtk - enhanced vi editor - compiled with the GTK2 GUI

  Used in KDE/Kubuntu-like environments

  In order to install this package, run sudo apt-get install vim-gtk

  Supports Perl, Python, Ruby, and TCL scripting.

• vim-nox - enhanced vi editor

  Like vim-tiny, vim-nox is a minimal vim installation and does not have a GUI. It comes with mouse support, but no clipboard support, IIRC.

  In order to install this package, run sudo apt-get install vim-nox

  Supports Perl, Python, Ruby, and TCL scripting.

• vim-tiny - enhanced vi editor - compact version

  vim-tiny is included as the default vim on Ubuntu distributions and comes with many optional features disabled(e.g. multi-level undo).

  See this askubuntu answer for details on its feature set(or lack thereof).

  In order to install this package, run sudo apt-get install vim-tiny

  Does not support Perl, Python, Ruby, or TCL scripting.

  As close to being vi without being vi.

Locally, to see which features are supported in a particular installed vim package, running the following command: vim --version will provide a list of features included(or excluded) in the particular package.

For example, on my system I can run either vim --version, vim.tiny --version, or vim.athena --version to see the differences in their respective supported features. The Debian/Ubuntu /etc/alternatives system determines which vim package executes when you runvi or vim, see What is etc/alternatives used for?

Python support

Before 16.04, the above packages (other than vim-tiny) included Vim with scripting support for Python 2. In 16.04, they all support Python 3, and there are corresponding *-py2 packages (vim-gnome-py2, for example) which provide a Vim command with Python 2 support. Both can be installed together, and the commands will be, for example, vim.gnome and vim.gnome-py2 respectively. Otherwise, the *-py2 packages provide the same feature set as the corresponding packages. Python 2 support was removed after 16.04.