Logic Board Busted...Time to Hack.

Hey all. So I've had an iBook G4 for forever but the logic board finally quit, and I ordered a MacBook. The iBook won't boot into OS X, just freezes at login, but I can log in to a Unix prompt. I'm wondering what use the logic board has in the case. What I'd like to do is basically format the whole thing, just install Unix, and hook it up to my network to play with some hacking techniques and stuff. This seem possible to all you Mac/Unix Gods? Thanks for your help guys.

Colin