considering purchasing a Powerbook

[Matthew Hixson <hixson@frozenwave.com>]

Hello,
  I'm new to the list so please forgive me if I'm asking a bunch of FAQs.
Also feel free to point me to information on the web that I may have
missed (I did look and didn't find a whole lot of info on how well Debian
is supported on the Powerbook).
  I'm going to be starting a small business with a friend of mine in a few
months.  I would like to ditch my crufty PC hardware that I have sitting
around my place and slim down to a nice powerful laptop.  The Powerbook G3
seems like just the thing for me.  I will primarily be using it as a
development environment, but will also need moderate word processing
capabilities as well.
  What do you Debian/Powerbook users use for word processing?  I know that
Applixware has a PPC version.  Is this a viable solution for use on a
Powerbook?
  I also would like to be able to sync my Palm to the Powerbook, but I see
that it does not have a serial port for connecting my serial cradle.  Is
it possible to do IR hotsyncing via the Powerbook's built in IR port?  If
not, then is it possible to get USB running well enough that I could get a
USB cradle for my Palm?  
  I'd like to hear about any experiences people have had in doing Palm
development under Debian/PPC as well.  Will I be able to run Poser, pilrc,
pilot-link, etc.?
  I'll also be doing Java development and was wondering how well the PPC
Java VM from blackdown.org is working these days.
  I have a Qualcomm Thin Phone with the serial cable (Qualcomm's "Data
Connectivity Kit"), which will let me do wireless data over CDMA at 14.4k. 
Since the Powerbook doesn't have a serial port is it possible to do serial
over USB or am I just out of luck there? (I guess this is pretty much the
same problem I have with hotsyncing my Palm, but without the fallback of
IR connectivity).
  Last question:  has anyone used Apple's financing program to purchase
their Powerbook?  Any raves or complaints about it?
  Any information would be greatly appreciated.
  Thanks,
    -M@  

--
"...the retired artist sat on a barrel in the shade close by, dangled his
 legs, munched his apple, and planned the slaughter of more innocents."