Welcome

Linux is a clone of the operating system Unix, written from scratch by Linus Torvalds with assistance from a loosely-knit team of hackers across the Net. It aims towards POSIX and Single UNIX Specification compliance.

It has all the features you would expect in a modern fully-fledged Unix, including true multitasking, virtual memory, shared libraries, demand loading, shared copy-on-write executables, proper memory management (assuming the processor supports it), and multi stack networking including IPv4 and IPv6.

It is distributed under the GNU General Public License - see the accompanying COPYING file for more details. To learn more about the operating system that is causing a revolution in the world of computers, click here.

ON WHAT HARDWARE DOES IT RUN?

Although originally developed first for 32-bit x86-based PCs (386 or higher),  today Linux also runs on (at least) the Compaq Alpha AXP, Sun SPARC and UltraSPARC, Motorola 68000, PowerPC, PowerPC64, ARM, Hitachi SuperH, Cell, IBM S/390, MIPS, HP PA-RISC, Intel IA-64, DEC VAX, AMD x86-64, AXIS CRIS, Xtensa, AVR32, Renesas M32R and Blackfin architectures.

What you can find here is the source code for the Linux kernel which has been validated, and tested on the Blackfin Processor from Analog Devices.

WHAT ABOUT THE MAINLINE LINUX KERNEL?

Although the Blackfin architecture has been in the mainline kernel since 2.6.22 (May 2007), there are various fixes and patches applied locally that are not upstream. Please use the kernel from here - and treat it like any other distribution kernel.

NEW TO LINUX?

If you're new to Linux, you do not want to download just the kernel, which is just a component in a working Linux system. Instead, you want what is called a distribution of Linux, which is a complete Linux system. There are numerous distributions available for download on the Internet as well as for purchase from various vendors; some are general-purpose, and some are optimized for specific uses. To install Linux on your host, check out this page. To get  uClinux (the Linux distribution for the Blackfin, which includes the Linux kernel), have a look here.