[linux-audio-user] Terratec DMX6 Fire recording problems & Rosegarden MIDI question

Hi I am new to Linux and new to this list - a friend of mine set it up last WE cause i was fed up with Windows and its capitalist way of working. I have Debian 2.4.22 i think (i know it's 2.4 something). It got installed using Knoppix then it got upgraded. We tried to upgrade it to 2.6 but some things were obviously wrong in the set up as it doesn't boot properly (probably something wrong with the graphic settings cause the screen goes all black). So i boot to 2.4. I have a Terratec DMX 6 Fire soundcard and Rosegarden 4 and Audacity but my problem is i don't seem to be able to record anything. I plugged in my 4 tracks portastudio into the line input as i used to do and i can hear it on my monitors but i can't record anything in Audacity. I have tried to play around with the various things in the alsamixer, setting everything to Capture and all the levels up and so on, but to no avail. Has anyone got any idea why i can't record? I also have a question about Rosegarden4. I have a Evolution MIDI keyboard controller, it's a USB device - i don't seem to get any MIDI date in when it's plugged via the USB port but i get MIDI data in when i plug it into the front MIDI input on my soundcard, which is OK for now (i will look into this USB thing when i upgrade to 2.6 properly i guess). However, i cannot hear anything - i have set things to "Midi device 1 channel 1" for example and then selected a bank and a sound - i know the MIDI data gets in as i can see the small U-meter near the track number go up and down but can't hear anything. When i go to the set up, it says somewhere "MIDI OK, no audio" - what does it mean and is it a problem? I was used to a few programs under Windows but i am not a master in any of them under Windows and i am totally new to the Linux environment so i'm not sure whether it is connected to something wrong in my set up or me not understanding how the software actually works... Any help would be very much appreciated, especially with the audacity recording issue as i've done some recordings with a friend and we want to mix them now but we are stuck because of this issue! Cheers Rachel -- APP (HLMHB) - electronica indie pop www.appband.com fpr mp3s & more info