[LAU] Looking for Resource Help with using Midi in a Church and School

I'm looking for guidance. I serve at a church and school, and we would like to begin using midi but no one here knows a lot about it. Personally, I use Linux as my main work desktop and home desktop, and have done some Linux audio recording and editing under Linux, but nothing with midi. Before the church invests tons of money in a new keyboard or midi software that only runs under Windows. I was wondering if: 1. What are some good resources on the web to understand what midi can do for us and what it can't do? (Basically, where can I learn about midi as a technology.) 2. We would like to use midi for (School Music, accompaniment for the children to learn new music. Choir Music, accompaniment for the choir director so she does not have to play the piece and direct at the same time, might be nice here to be able to play just the bass line then all four parts at once. Church Music, accompaniment for congregation for services when we don't have a live organist or when we have a small group worship setting. Church Music, to add variety of instrument sounds that we can't get from an organ or a piano.) 3. Finally, can midi under Linux handle the above tasks. What would be a wise investment in equipment to get started with the goals above? I don't want to spend $2000 on a new keyboard when instead something like the Yamaha QY100 would be a better investment. I have asked others if I can have their midi files and many have said that they are in Qbase so I imagine a Windows Program format will not work with Linux software. We do have a keyboard with Midi in and we do have a Pentium 1Ghz with 512megs of ram, would that be enough to get us started if we buy an midi interface, and I have no idea which one? Even if you just point me to some reading materials, it would be appreciated, because we are in the dark right now. Thanks, ---------------------------- | Steve | | mowestusa(a)yahoo.com | | mowestusa.nixsyspaus.org | ----------------------------