There is a Linux (uClinux) port for the NXP LPC185x devices available from Emcraft Systems:
<a href="https://www.emcraft.com/products/231">http://www.emcraft.com/products/231</a>
It is a low-cost BSP product if you want support from the development team. Otherwise, you can grab the sources from Emcraft's git repository at github.com and try it on your own.
Either way, I can tell you that Linux runs quite well on the LPC185x.