Find list of programs installed.
 

How do you find the list of programs/applications installed on ubuntu?

Open the package manager (Adept or Synaptic).

Is there no gui application for this...?

Synaptic is a GUI package. System-> Administration-> Synaptic Package Manager

Is there any tutorial or guide pertaining to this command? I find it a bit slow deciphering the meaning of what it outputs...!

http://www.debianadmin.com/debianubu...sing-dpkg.html

several other hits on Google....

I use a very old unsupported version of ubuntu. Does this mean my synaptic won't get the proper updates when the application starts?

Unsupported says it all. Synaptics will work with repositories that are based on the libraries associated with that Ubuntu release. Over time changes will only be made to packages associated with the more recent releases. If you want recent versions of various packages, you should install Ubuntu 7.10.

But what do I do if say I want to install the latest kernel release. (Not that I know how to or realize its inherent complexities, but anyway).

You can download the latest release here. Normal procedure is to burn this ISO image onto a CD which you can do by clicking on the ISO icon.

http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download

If you don't have a CD burner this is one of many sites that will sell a CD.

http://www.osdisc.com/cgi-bin/view.c...ad=distrowatch

You'll want to back up your data. I usually create a partition on my disk for this purpose.

I want to know a compatible music player I can download and install for ubuntu 5.10 breezy badger. Totem and rhythm box don't seem to be streaming music...

You might try banshee.