Micha Feigin wrote: ...
advantages. vi (not vim) I haven't fully figured out yet. Mostly the part about deleting text (the backspace functionality), and while I am
...just check any vi quick reference, in command mode us x (backspace), X (delete), d and move command etc.
In insert mode backspace should work (almost) as expected but not always update display, i.e. it might go back and delete characters but they are still on the screen so it might be a bit confusing. Backspace in vi does not go across lines (if you are at the beginning of the line the backspace does nothing). It also depends on settings of your terminal (and keyboard), if backspace does not work delete might work (just like you'd expect backspace to work) or ctrl-h.
Note that the vi is quite often one or another clone (nvi, elvis, ...) so the behaviour might be slightly different (and depend on configuration)
not sure if (at least some of) this addresses your question, you are not very specific (not sure what problem with backsapce you have)
erik