RHEL clone won't play MIDI on Analog Devices SoundMAX

[Victor Odhner]

I have a few hundred midi files to edit over the next several months, and
this problem may drive me back to Windows for a long time.  I really
don't want to regress, but to prevent that, I need not only (1) for MIDI
files to play on my machine, but (2) to find a viable MIDI sequencer
package (which I expect I'll have to pay for).

So, is there anybody out there who can discuss MIDI under Linux?

Dan Lund wrote in another thread:

>Well, I do know that XMMS will play MIDI format.
 
It's comforting to hear that.  So, how do I make it happen?

I'm on CentOS 4.

I select a MIDI file, say "Open With" and enter XMMS, and up it comes.
Or I bring up "xmms &" from the command line.
Or "xmms /wherever/it/is/filename.mid &", which doesn't help any.
Either way there is a (highly non-standard, of course!) file-browse menu.
I can see my file after pressing the "Add Files in Directory" button.

So I browse to the file and select it, and the browse dialog disappears.

xmms stares at me blankly.
I press "Play".  The browse dialog comes up again.
I select the file.  Highlight it.  Press "Play".  Dialog disappears.

What weird little cultural incantation am I missing?

FOSS programmers need to be *so* doggone inventive with
their interfaces, but can't produce a decent diagnostic message.
Grrr.

KDE offers kmid to play the file, so I try that.
 Could not open /dev/sequencer;
 probably there is another program using it

ls -ld /dev/sequencer
 ls: /dev/sequencer: No such file or directory

ls -ld /dev/midi
 ls: /dev/midi: No such file or directory

/sbin/modprobe -l | grep via
 /lib/modules/2.6.9-5.0.3.EL/kernel/sound/pci/snd-via82xx.ko
 /lib/modules/2.6.9-5.0.3.EL/kernel/drivers/scsi/sata_via.ko
 /lib/modules/2.6.9-5.0.3.EL/kernel/drivers/i2c/busses/i2c-via.ko
 /lib/modules/2.6.9-5.0.3.EL/kernel/drivers/i2c/busses/i2c-viapro.ko
 /lib/modules/2.6.9-5.0.3.EL/kernel/drivers/i2c/chips/via686a.ko
 /lib/modules/2.6.9-5.0.3.EL/kernel/drivers/net/via-rhine.ko
 /lib/modules/2.6.9-5.0.3.EL/kernel/drivers/net/via-velocity.ko

# /sbin/modprobe -l snd-intel8x0
 /lib/modules/2.6.9-5.0.3.EL/kernel/sound/pci/snd-intel8x0.ko

# /sbin/modprobe -l snd-pcm-oss
 /lib/modules/2.6.9-5.0.3.EL/kernel/sound/core/oss/snd-pcm-oss.ko

# /sbin/modprobe -l snd-mixer-oss
 /lib/modules/2.6.9-5.0.3.EL/kernel/sound/core/oss/snd-mixer-oss.ko

# /sbin/modprobe -l snd-seq-oss
 /lib/modules/2.6.9-5.0.3.EL/kernel/sound/core/seq/oss/snd-seq-oss.ko

/dev/sequencer and /dev/midi are still AWOL.

# cat /etc/modprobe.conf
 alias eth0 via-rhine
 alias snd-card-0 snd-via82xx
 options snd-card-0 index=0
 install snd-via82xx /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install snd-via82xx && 
/usr/sbin/alsactl restore >/dev/null 2>&1 || :
 remove snd-via82xx { /usr/sbin/alsactl store >/dev/null 2>&1 || : ; }; 
/sbin/modprobe -r --ignore-remove snd-via82xx
 alias usb-controller ehci-hcd
 alias usb-controller1 uhci-hcd

... so I enter:
 # install snd-via82xx /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install snd-via82xx
Modprobe returns a process result of 1 and replies:
 install: unrecognized option `--ignore-install'
 Try `install --help' for more information.

/usr/sbin/alsactl restore
 no response; result code is zero; those two devices still absent.

shutdown; switch to Windows; double-click the file.  Hear music.

Help!

Vic