Quick update from yesterday's post:

Looks like I'm going to go the "change the OS not upgrade the computer" route on the iBook. Richie totally hit the roof when he overheard me talking about the necessary upgrades. Also the labor costs to upgrade a Clamshell iBook are formidable to say the least. Mac hardware geeks do not like working on Clamshell iBooks.

So here's my plan:
Debian PPC
xfce graphical user environment
Libs for both KDE and Gnome, although xfce uses GTK+ already
Best-of-breed apps in a tight, lightweight install.

My available resources on this machine:
160MB RAM
6GB HD
4MB Rage64 Mobility video (no 3D for you)
Battery with unknown amount of life in it
CD-ROM Drive
1 USB port
Built-in 10/100 eth0
Built-in AirPort (Wavelan IEEE, Orinoco type 802.11b) eth1
Built in v90 modem (although I never use modem anymore it seems)

If I can come up with a working loadout I might create a custom installer for it, because it could come in handy on old iMacs and old iBooks.

I'd better get to bed...I still am getting over this nameless evil crud.