Arduino questions

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Gents,

 Ok, some questions for the Arduino nuts out there

1) What's the difference/advantage/pros/cons betwee the two versions
(Diecimila, minidev board) I assume the minidev board is aimed at embedded
apps, and the other for integration with USB and a pc?

1a) is ther an option to upgrade the MEGA8 version to the MEGA168 version?

2) I've found some code examples but personally I'd like to see some MIDI
in/out code examples, anyone got any links?
2a) It looks like it'd be possible to use the arduinos uart (RX and TX
pins) to send/receive midi
(http://www.arduino.cc/en/Guide/Board?from=Tutorial.ArduinoBoard) is that
correct? but I could be wrong the page seems to imply these pins aren't
connected to the CPU.

3) is there an option for compiling and uploading the compiled code rather
than interpreting the code 'on the fly' which is obviously slower than
'compiled' code.

3a) is the boot loader available for download and is it easy to reprogram
if/when I kill it :-)

Paul