Where do installed programs go?
 

I Use Linux Mint with gnome.

I download software packages from the Mint/Ubuntu repositories, they seem to install correctly. After installation, I check the GUI "All Programs" menu, they are not listed, I search for the installed files using Mint's search utility, they are not detected anywhere in the filesystem.

Where are they going? Are they lost by Mint? Is this common with all Linux distro's? Is this dangerous or a sign of a virus? Why does it have to be like this?

I delete the installed packages as soon as they are NOT detected,.

No need to delete the prog.
Ur install prog goes to Sbin folder.
just type the prog name that u install. it diectly ll get run.
nt sure with mint bt in most of distros.

It also depends on the type of program you install. Some programs are available in the program menu (the "All Programs" menu, I think), while some are only available in the commandline. Usually the easiest way to figure it out is to open a console, type a partial name of the program you are trying to run, then push tab.

For example, let's say I installed Conky, but for some reason it's not showing up in my program menu. So I open up my terminal program of choice (xterm is usually available on all machines, but you may use konsole, gterm, eterm, or whatever is default on your system), type in "con" and push tab twice. I get a list of programs that start with "con," such as "configure_data, conky, convert, conjure, continue, convertfonts." Looks like conky is in there, so I just finish typing "conky" and push enter to run it.

From there you know the program is installed properly and you can manually add it to your programs menu if necessary.

You can find where the package installs files using dpkg
The executables are usually put in a bin dir, so you can usually find the executables in a package with:

Evo2.

Sometimes the programs you install don't have a GUI interface, and are command-line-based. In such cases, they usually won't have an entry in the GUI menu.

Try opening a Terminal window and searching for the program's man page (if it exists):

If you find it, type man <name of program executable> to get more info about how to use it.

Hope this helps. :)

I have found that Gnome usually adds GUI programs to the menu automatically, but YMMV.

For most of the programs I have installed in Slackware and Ubuntu, the executables go into /usr/bin or sometimes /usr/local/bin; very rarely they will go somewhere under /opt. Since I usually use Fluxbox as a window manager, I must edit the Fluxbox menu manually.

I find the program executables by running

Example:

Then, as user, I run the program from the command line to verify that I found it and that I can run it as user. Then I add it to the menu.

The name of the file is usually different from the "proper" name of the program. For example:

And remember, Linux (unlike DOS/Windows) is case-sensitive: "File" and "file" are different and can coexist in the same folder!

Checking file locations with Synaptic
 

With Mint (and other distros using a graphical package installer) you open the package manager (synaptic, kpackage, Yum, Yast - whatever) and search for the program. When you highlight the program there should be a selection for the installed files. Simply look at the installed files, and the location of the executable filename will be one of those files. You can create a launch link either for the panel or as a menu entry using the file location to run your application. If it has no GUI, you will need to run the application (file name and location) from a terminal.

+1 for the command

an alternative (installed by default on debian based Os') and a program i use a hell of a lot is

just make sure you regularly do

This is a lot to digest, but I'm making limited progress. However, sometime I search using whereis or dpkg commands which only returns an echo of the package name I typed.

whereis <package> (enter)
:<package>

Does this mean that the package was not installed correctly? If so, how can I find out what went wrong?

Also, I have noticed that most of the packages that do this are from Ubuntu repositories (canonical and Universe). Is there some level of incompatibility between Ubuntu and Linux Mint? It's my understanding that Mint is Ubuntu based.

--- edit ---
oops I mis read the thread title
#########################

if you ONLY installed the program "go" it is a terminal based program --NO GUI and will NOT be in the gnome menu

in a terminal type in
the gnugo terminal
-- screenshot--
http://www.imagebam.com/image/613d7294862519
i would install a gui
i like qgo
-- screenshot--
http://www.imagebam.com/image/057ecf94862545

when we do yum install vlc then first it download packages and then install it...please tell me where it download these packages in redhat???

Linux Mint Gnome (which I also use) is Ubuntu based, so it's highly unlikely (if not impossible) that they are incompatible. Have you tried the command killall gnome-panel? That did the trick for me when some programs didn't showed up in the menu...