I'm not too sure about PDF, but there have been posts in the past that link to freeware PDF converters (you can also do a search at sourceforge).
In my old palm days, if I wanted to create a palm doc from a word file (or any other text /etc file), I'd just save it as text or copy it to the clipboard, then paste it into a great freeware palm doc editor called Big Doc, which let you save the file as a doc pdb which could then be hotsynced to the palm.
That was about as easy as I could make it without resorting to proprietary formats like isilo, etc. Mind you, these days my ipaq can read _anything_.....
If you need links to any of the above (or even a copy of Big Doc, I have it on a CD here somewhere), PM me. I hope this helps a little...
Craig.