try

modprobe snd-seq-midi-event

if it works put it in your modules section in /etc/rcS.conf

hi ernia!
it's nearly working, yet not quite. after the issuing the command:
"aplaymidi filename.mid"
i now get the message:
"Please specify one port with --port."
i issued the command
"aplaymidi -l"
and got an empty list of ports available. any suggestions? thanks again!

maybe i gave you a bad advice.
do you have hardware midi support in you soundcard? if yes which model is it?

hi ernia,
info on sound card (aside from modem) from alsamixer is:
/proc/asound/cards:
===========
0 [I82801DBICH4 ]: ICH4 - Intel 82801DB-ICH4
Intel 82801DB-ICH4 with ALC202 at irq 17
/proc/asound/oss/devices:
===============
is empty.
i hope this info helps.

i think you need timidity to play midi files.
i'm fiddling about tazarch and tazwok to build a frozen bubble package, if i manage to get it i'll try to build timidity
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Timidity

hi ernia,
am looking forward to that pkg. had no luck until now to make 'aplaymidi' work. thanks for looking into this.

hi, i'm in a hurry and i have no time to try to keep things clean or tiny or to test all program functions.
you can dowload timidity-freepats tazpkg (instruments file) from here
http://rapidshare.com/files/381684208/timidity-freepats-20060219.tazpkg.html
and timidity tazpkg from here:
http://rapidshare.com/files/381682059/timidity__-2.13.2.tazpkg.html
it should work out of the box typing "timidity nameofmidifile" and it should work as a midi port too.
i will not reconnect until saturday, so if you have troubles please be patient
bye

hi ernia,
i have downloaded the 2 files and have installed them. no problem with those. however, 'timidity -h' now gives the error message:
'timidity: error while loading shared libraries: libesd.so.0: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory'
i have yet to look for this missing lib file. here's hoping that that's the only file needed for timidity to work. any suggestion for a good download site? again, thanks!

this is a method to track missing dependencies:

tux@slitaz:~$ tazpkg search-pkgname libesd.so.0

Search result for file : libesd.so.0
================================================================================
esound

================================================================================
1 pkg(s) found with file : libesd.so.0

so you must install esound
the receipt should have esound as a dependencie but i forgot about it, i told you that i've made it in a hurry, sorry about that
if you find more missing dependency let me know, thanks

hi ernia,
'timidity' works! thanks a lot! two packages (esound and libaudiofile) were additionally installed for 'timidity file.ext' to work well. all told, the packages installed were: 1) audiofile, 2) esound, 3) flac, 4) jack-audio-connection-kit, 5) libao, 6) libsndfile, 7) timidity__ , and 8) timidity-freepats (the last two, out of your gratefulness, of course!).
'aplaymidi' is still problematic but timidity is more than enough. thanks again!