[NCLUG] advice for switchers?

[S. Luke Jones]

I have purchased a laptop to be my new primary home machine. (Taking  
into consideration the advice I received here, I got a refurb Dell  
Inspiron 1525. This is related to the 1525N model they support Linux  
on, and reports in laptop linux support forums and blogs seem  
promising.)

My primary home machine for the past couple of years has been a Mac.  
During that time I've only used my Linux machine for backing up the  
mac. (I turn it on every so often, run a few rsync commands, and  
sometimes an apt-get upgrade, then turn it back off.) So I've been out  
of the Linux mainstream for awhile. (Although, on the Mac, the main  
programs I run are Terminal, Firefox, and vim.)

I'm looking for advice, particularly from people who are relatively  
recent switchers/switch-backers. What's been going on while I've been  
in Mac-land? Are there any new killer apps? In particular, if anyone  
has opinions about the nearest Linux equivalents of the Mac's consumer  
tools (Mail.app, iPhoto, iDVD, iMovie, iTunes, etc.) and office apps  
(Pages, Numbers, and Keynote) I'd appreciate hearing any tips.

Thanks!

S. Luke Jones - slukejones at gmail.com