Running Linux on your Amiga

**Harrison** · 6th March 2009, 15:42

I've been doing some research this week to see what versions of Linux were released for the Amiga, and to see if the Distros could still be obtained.

The good news is that most of them can be easily downloaded.

The bad news is that the minimum system requirements for any of them as at least a 68020 CPU, with an FPU and MMU. So this really applies to A1200 uses with a 68030 accelerator or better, and big box Amiga owners with at least an 030 system.

Also worth noting is that it won't run on an A4000 EC30 because it is missing an MMU.

Now to the Amiga Linux Distros. This is what I've found so far.

Amiga Linux Distros:

For 68k Amigas
AMIX
MINIX 2
NetBSD 4.0.1
Debian GNU/Linux m68k 3.1r8

For PPC Amigas
Debian GNU/Linux PPC 3.1r8
Debian GNU/Linux PPC 4.0r7 "etch"
Debian GNU/Linux PPC 5 "lenny"
AmigaOne-Linux
Linux/APUS Kernal

So there are a few good Linux Distros available for the Amiga for both m68k and PPC systems. I will explore each in more detail below.

**Harrison** · 6th March 2009, 15:46

This is quite an old Linux Distro for the Amiga, but it is very small.

Site
http://www.minix3.org/

Download
http://www.minix3.org/previous-versions/index.html
http://www.minix3.org/previous-versi...d/Amiga.tar.gz 2.8MB (7 Floppy Disks)

Last release Info
The last version, MINIX 3 seems to have dropped m68k support.

As you can see this is very small, distributed in a 2.8MB download containing a 7 floppy disk install set. It is commandline only but that is OK for general Linux use.

**Harrison** · 6th March 2009, 15:47

Site
ftp://iso.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/iso/

Download
ftp://iso.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/iso/4.0.1

Last release Info
The last version of NetBSD for 68k Amiga seems to be the latest one version 4.0.1 and is available to download from their FTP as an ISO, and also torrent and shareaza.

**Harrison** · 6th March 2009, 15:56

**Harrison** · 6th March 2009, 15:56

**Harrison** · 6th March 2009, 16:06

Site
http://amigaone-linux.sourceforge.net/

Downloads
http://amigaone-linux.sourceforge.net/download.php

Info
For the Amiga One, based on the Debian kernel 2.6.18. Latest release was 19/10/2008.

**Harrison** · 6th March 2009, 16:11

Further Reading

These is a great Linux PPC site to read a lot more at http://www.us.debian.org/ports/powerpc/

**TiredOfLife** · 29th March 2009, 07:31

Never got round to installing Linux on my A1200 but will soon try it on a Sam.
I only know one person who uses Linux so it looks like I'm going to be pretty much on my own with this.
Will need to ensure I'm up to maximum mental capacity when I try this as the installation looks a bit wierd at first glance.

**Harrison** · 30th March 2009, 12:20

Have you installed any Distro of Linux before on any system? If not then I would recommend playing around with it on a PC first to get a feel for how it all works, and to get to grips with a Linux shell and the commands it uses. That way you will be able to enjoy trying it on an Amiga much more.

**Tiago** · 31st March 2009, 12:45

I when to see the Debian GNU/Linux m68k Distro

it needs a 68030 card, that's ok, i have a blizzard 030, but they say it needs 64mb ram, to have a desktop enviroment, otherwise with no desktop enviroment it only needs 32mb ram.
i only have 32mb... but linux with command line only is a bit difficult for me

i wonder if i could run it with only 32mb....
i have a spare disk with 1.2 GB... may be i try it

Thread: Running Linux on your Amiga

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Running Linux on your Amiga

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NetBSD Amiga Distro 4.0.1

Debian GNU/Linux m68k Distro

Debian GNU/Linux PPC Distros

AmigaOne-Linux

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