The emacs reference manual includes the emacs reference manual, the xemacs manual, the elisp manual, and the short emacs reference card.

The GNU emacs source code is distributed by the FSF and it's many mirror sites.

The Ohio State emacs lisp archive contains many elisp add on packages and hacks for various versions of emacs. Before you write it, look here; someone probably already did.

Indiana's CS department xemacs documentation covers the strictly visual version of emacs, xemacs. Documentation here includes the general reference manual, using emacs as a widget in other programs, the w3 web browser, various mail readers, common lisp support, and object oriented class browsers.

The xemacs FAQ and software can be found at the xemacs site.

The multi-lingual enhanced version of GNU emacs, mule can handle 8 bit characters like ISO Latin 1 as well as 16 bit characters like Japanese, Chinese, and Korean. The FAQ also includes 8 and 16 bit characters, so make sure your browser supports them.

A 95/NT vi look alike, Lemmy, is freeware from James Juliano. Lemmy also includes Java and Visual Basic scripting, OLE automation, and a full graphical interface.

The vi clone originally distributed with the Fourth Berkeley Software Distribution (4BSD), nvi, supports all the historic ex/vi features except for open mode and the lisp edit option (e.g., it has a fully implemented underlying ex mode). Additional features new to nvi include: 8-bit clean data, multiple edit buffers, colon command-line editing and path name completion, tag stacks, extended regexps, infinite undo, horizontal scrolling, message catalogs, and preliminary support for Perl and Tcl/Tk scripting languages.

The vim editor is an improved VI clone that runs on various UNIX and other platforms. For diehard vi users, vim has a strict vi compatibility mode, bug for bug. These pages include information about recent progress, the vim FAQ, and where to pick up the software, as well as sample configurations and more.

The vile editor retains the "finger-feel", if you will, of vi, while adding the multiple buffer and multiple window features of emacs and other editors. It is definitely not a vi clone, in that some substantial stuff is missing, and the screen doesn't look quite the same. The things that you tend to type over and over probably work. Things done less frequently, like configuring a startup file, are somewhat (or very, depending on how ambitious you are) different.

WinVi is a free vi like editor for both 32 and 16-bit MS Windows platforms.

The editor elvis, written by Steve Kirkendall, is a freeware program that emulates vi/ex and is normally found on minix or linux systems.

An excerpt from UNIX is a Four Letter Word, Vi is a Two Letter Abbreviation, written by Christopher Taylor, is a comprehensive coverage of vi. Taylor explains both the good and bad things about vi and why you may or may not want to use it for text editing.

The University of Missouri's A Beginner's guide to vi and ex is a quick cheat sheet for more common vi commands and settings.

The University of Chicago's Introduction to vi is a short handout that describes the very basics of vi, enough to get you going, but without in depth explanations.

The University of Hawaii's Mastering the vi editor is another good introduction to vi but with more in depth information, including all of the possible settings and specific tips for coders. There's also a good key command summary at the end.

The vi FAQ, maintained by Baruch Promislow of Macom Networking LTD., answers many questions about vi, including where to find clones, how to learn vi, and some silly things that can be done with vi. He also has a separate glossary of terms that new users might find useful.

Tony Porczyk's vi: The Worldly Editor is yet another quick vi starter with a good cheat-sheet for current vi users.

The vi Lovers Home Page has a table of links to different versions of vi for different OSs, manuals, online help, tutorials, macros, and even poetry about vi.

A listing of vi macros is for the experienced vi user that want's more out of the editor. Not for novices.

Yahoos' vi section has a number of links to vi and vi clone related documentation.

The vi reference mug is a coffee mug with vi reference material printed all the way around it in tabular form. No true vi nut can be without one.

The original UNIX editor, ed is useful because it is available on all machines even when not in multiuser mode. Knowing ed is the key to editing system files on a badly damaged machine.

The editor that comes with the pine mail reader, pico, is a basic editor designed to be easy for beginners. Features such as on screen instructions and a simple menu driven structure make it ideal for the novice. For those who wish more power, vi or emacs is generally the next step.

The joe editor, written by Joe Allen, is a "mode-less" editor- what you type is immediately entered into the file. However, unlike EMACS, it uses a concise command set and generally has the "feel" of user-friendly PC editors. Users of Micro-Pro's WordStar or Borland's "Turbo" languages will recognize similarities.

McGill University's editor page covers pico, xedit, wedit, emacs, jove, and vi.