Misconceptions about Linux/m68k

The Linux/m68k port is "under development" or "experimental"

False. Linux/m68k is at least as stable as Linux on Intel, Alpha, PowerPC and Sparc systems (all of which have, like Linux/m68k, at least one "major" distribution available). Furthermore, Linux/m68k was the first stable port of Linux to any other (non-Intel) processor.

There is development on additional hardware drivers and additional machine ports (like implementations for the Macintosh, Apollo and Sun 3), but this is the same "development" that is underway on other platforms.

As an illustration of Linux/m68k's stability, a recent report on the mailing list said that a 68030-based Amiga 1200 had been running a 2.0.29 kernel for 24 hours a day for 363 days without a system crash, while serving as a web server and providing file, news and mail services to several other machines.

Linux/m68k isn't popular

False. Over 1750 people have registered using Linux/m68k (and registering is strictly optional; please see the Linux/m68k Registration Site for up-to-date figures). Many hundreds more are using it on systems without Internet connections.

Linux/m68k's usage on systems capable of running it is probably equivalent to that of Linux on Intel platforms (on a percentage basis).

Over 330 people participated in the call for votes for the Usenet newsgroup comp.os.linux.m68k, which took place in late 1995 (when Linux/m68k was in less widespread use).

Porting Linux/m68k to my system is useless because there is *BSD for my system

False. Linux has many features that make it preferable to NetBSD or OpenBSD. The most impressive feature is that there is virtually no Berkeley code in the kernel: it is written from the ground up to comply with POSIX and other standards (XPG, SVID, etc.), and work is underway to make it a "branded" Unix. And we're pretty nice to one another too, which doesn't hurt.

Linux is also highly popular on Intel platforms (to a much greater degree than BSD). This popularity, combined with 99.9% source compatibility, means that virtually any program that runs on Linux/i386 (and doesn't use any inherently non-portable features like SVGAlib) can be compiled and run on Linux/m68k. It also means that you can walk into virtually any bookstore and buy a book specifically about your OS (try that with AmigaOS!).