Regarding forward delete, if it's not too much trouble, how would one program one of the f-keys to forward delete? Or where would I go to find out how to do this? You would have my undying gratitude, this is the one and only thing about my Mac powerbook that drives me crazy. Thanks.
If you just want to be able to forward-delete, period, typing the key combo "fn-delete" is the Powerbook equivalent of the forward-delete key. If you really really want to only have to hit a single key, you'll want to download and install DoubleCommand (http://doublecommand.sourceforge.net/), which is free. I think it automatically maps F11 to act as a forward-delete, but I don't remember for sure. If you install it and have any trouble, just ask and I'll try to help.
(Don't forget that when you're not on the go, you can always plug a regular full-size keyboard into the USB port. Any USB keyboard should work, it doesn't have to be an Apple keyboard.)
(Of course, remapping F11 will mess up Exposé if you're running 10.3.x. You'll want to go into the System Preferences, open the Exposé control panel and tell it to look for some other key or key combo to reveal the desktop.)