i've finally taken the decision to weed myself off the MS op system on my laptop and to that effect have dual booted it with Ubuntu 11.04.

My question is what can I do easier now with my N900 that I couldn't through W7 and what should I be experimenting with?

Hmmm only this
http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=77695

Yup all you can do in ubuntu are doable on win7 just need to do some research

It's extremely easy to log into your N900's "terminal" via ssh. Could be done with Putty in Windows but on Linux it's just part of the system. I prefer "guake" as terminal on Ubuntu, it opens a window almost instantly on keypress.

Many of the shell scripts you might use on Ubuntu can be reused on Maemo. I love how I just need to write stuff once and can use it on different platforms with minor to no modifications at all.

If you install Python on your N900 many scripts/apps can be used there as well. It's quite easy to learn (thus quite popular). Ubuntu uses it extensively, and the N900 is great for learning the language (and others) on-the-go.

Like said already ssh works like a charm and makes transferring files between N900 and PC very easy using Nautilus (file manager). On nautilus just go to File -> Connect to server.
What I have enjoyed the most is that when you learn something using N900 you also learn about using Ubuntu and vice versa.

You can stream the music/videos in your ubuntu machine to phone via uPNP. Rhythmbox has a uPNP Plugin..

You can run ssh with X forwarding and launch any application you have installed on your laptop on the N900 with gui. Sadly the X server on the N900 is crippled and you can't do the opposite.

i think the command is ssh -X your-ip

Does this mean I can then control that program on the laptop using the N900? e.g I would effectively have a remote control for Banshee?

Thanks all for your suggestions, really interested in using the N900's terminal from my laptop. I will give this a go tonight.

I have not tried the X forwarding stuff, but what you are asking can be done by vnc...
In Ubuntu System--Preference---Remote Desktop---Check "Allow other users to view your desktop" & "Allow other users to control your desktop".
In N900, give the ip in Presence VNC.

And for VLC you have http://www.my-maemo.com/software/app...to=1754&faq=34
For some reasons, I could not get it to work. You can check in the forums here.

VLC-remote is awesome. There appeared a bug in qt on recent cssu update, which will be fixed. I assume the application works on Windows as well so this is not relevant for OP's question.