I am looking for a very small Linux distribution that could be ported to a legacy network device, but it's not a router, and it's not running Linux.  I am trying to understand if OpenWRT is a possible option.  So, here is some basic information, and maybe you can help me.  I already read this page http://wiki.openwrt.org/doc/devel/add.new.platform and searched the forums, but I didn't find the answer myself yet.  Thank you for any insights you can provide.

The legacy network device has a big-endian ARM 9 processor, 32 MB SDRAM, 16 MB Flash.  I know it has several GPIO, and it supports a wired Ethernet connection and multiple serial ports.  There is no video or USB hardware on the board.  I have access to all hardware specifications, most original source code, J-TAG, and a working compiler.  I am experienced at using the J-TAG to debug applications on the target, but not at using it to find problems with the OS and hardware (yet).

Can OpenWRT possibly be an option?  If not, why not?