On Wed, Jan 03, 2007 at 08:02:13PM +0800, Alasdair wrote:
> Problem : Need to edit /etc/fstab while in single user mode, unable to 
> do so.
> 
> When I try to use vi as
> vi /ect/fstab
> the message tells me
> 
> TERM variable is not set (or similar)

Use ed, it's pretty straight-forward, and well worthwhile
learning the few main commands.  It can be much easier for
getting yourself out of situations like these than getting
yourself into a situation where you can use vi.

On the other hand, if you've got /usr, and enough of the rest of
your file system mounted to actually be able to *run* vi, then
you could also just use ex, which is the command-mode of vi,
which doesn't need a smart terminal, either.

Cheers,

-- 
Andrew