P7000: Getting the most out of it

Got a P7000 last december to be used as my bicycle touring camera. I like it's ergonomic coming myself from Pentax Me Super and Canon QL17 (before 2000). It could be the perfect walk around camera for me (i dislike the OVF tought). I own a D40 DSLR. I like it a lot too but it is too bulky to carry on bicycle touring trip and mainly too bulky for my up and coming 1 year long South America bicycle trip.

I am considering buying a m4/3 camera to replace the P7000 since i find IQ a bit short on what i am expecting. Mainly sharpness and noise. I may expect too much. I don't even get with my D40 what i was getting with my Me Super (100 ISO film). I may be far from knowing everything about digital photography too.

I can easily works on RAW files now since i have a computer at home. I use Rawtherapee (Linux user). When on the road for over one year, i will have to use JPG if i want to max my SD cards space usage (i don't bring a computer).  So, what can i do to get the most out of my P7000 (RAW and JPG)?

Right now, i try to keep ISO as low as possible (200 or 100). Should i try to be at F8 as much as possible? Mandatory tripod use? Handheld lowest speed? Which Custom color setup if any for jpeg? Mandatory post processing task if any?

Thanks!

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Guy Bouchard