Behavior of Escape in terminal vs graphical frame when using Viper

[Rob Frobischer]

I sometimes have to use Emacs (23.2.1) in a terminal emulator, e.g.
gnome-terminal, or a system console. I DO have an Alt key, so I would
like Escape to behave the same way it does when I use Emacs in a
graphical frame.

As it is now, under a terminal, when I hit Escape to exit insert mode
in Viper, I have to wait a second or so, or the Escape is interpreted
as Meta prefix. For example, Escape followed immediately (not
simultaneously) by k results in M-k which is kill-sentence. (Escape
followed by a pause followed by k results in the expected movement of
the cursor up one line.)  I haven't been able to find documentation
for this behavior, but I suspect it is a feature for people who do not
have Alt or Meta keys. (I did find viper-no-multiple-ESC and tried
various values of it, but to no avail.)

I would like to be able to hit Escape followed by any key without a
pause and not have it be interpreted as M-*.