I have read that it can be done but would advice you proceed with caution. My usb port was faulty and I took it to two diferent phone repair shops and neither could fix it. I guess some get more badly damaged than others. So there is the very real risk that you will not be able to get it fixed if you buy it. Even Nokia do not fix it, they just give a replacement N900.

You could also do what I did which was get a spare battery and charge with an external charger. And for file transfers with pc use WinSCP. But then you must make sure you do not risk any mods, etc that could brick your device. I was constantly modding and eventually I ended up with a bricked device with no way to flash since I had no working usb port.