is it possible to format a powerbook g4 mac? like totally erase the HD then pop in the Mac OS cd and it will boot up an install like windows or any linux?

Of course:

1. Boot up the computer.
2. Insert the OS X CD-ROM.
3. Depress the "C" key and keep it depressed.
4. Restart your PowerBook.
5. The TiBook will boot from the OS X CD-ROM.
6. The installer will automatically lanuch.
7. Quit the installer.
8. Launch the Disk Utility application.
9. Reformat the drive: If you want OS X only, two UFS (Posix/UNIX) partitions, one of ~1.0 gigabyte and one which fills the rest of the disk OR, if you need both OS 9 and OS X, three HFS+ (MacOS Extended) partitions, one of ~1.0 gigabyte and two others; make sure the OS X partition is at least 3 gigabytes. THE ~1.0 GIGABYTE PARTITION IS FOR OS X'S USE AS A DEDICATED SWAP PARTITION. You really, really want to have a dedicated swap partition. See this forum or this month's MacAddict (hard copy) magazine for instructions on how to tell OS X to use this partition as the swap file repostitory. If you don't do this, OS X will run just fine on one partition; you can always make this change later.
10. Reboot the PowerBook from the OS X CD-ROM as in steps 3 & 4 above.
11. Install OS X with the installer program.
12. Install OS 9, if desired, from the OS 9 CD-ROM.
13. Share and enjoy!

ok so how do i make it use the swap partition?

The best instructions I've seen appear in this month's MacAddict. I'll be at home a little later and key it in.

ok thanks. you gonna scan it or somethign?

OK, OK, OK...Kendall Jackson, "Don Juan di Marco," and nudge, nudge, snap, snap, wink, wink later, here's the dope:

The instructions in MacAddict are great, but completely useless without the screenshots. It's the April, 2002 issue. This is a ten-minute procedure, but it has to be done exactly right. I'd search the archives on this site, plus http://www.macosx.com. I didn't mean to build you up and then cop out, but the procedure is more graphically oriented than I had remembered. When my machine was set up, I didn't do this; if I could find a way to back up ~36 GB of data from a USB-only machine, I would reformat. Anyhoo, this is hardly a secret procedure, so there's bound to be help at hand. Anyone?