Have you tried using Flipz Kitchen? I didn't get to use it personally,but read his thread and looks extremely easy and definitely worth a try and then after your rooted you can load any custom 2.1 rom. Heres the link
http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=116329
Just from my experience, its easy to jump ahead of things and not read things carefully enough, so my sugesstion is just take your time and read the instructions carefully and you'll save yourself a headache