I'm thinking of buying a WindowsCE/Android Netbook that uses a WM8650 processor and want to install Linux on it but the only images I could find were 10 years old ;/

 

If a stock image won't work then how hard would it be to compile it for the WM8650? I'm a complete newbie so please explain as if I'm a kindergarden dropout :)

Is that ARM architecture? From a quick search I could find VIA x86 processors only.

It's ARM9 core, so it's very old architecture. Only BSP kernel exists, but who knows where source can be found. So, even if sources for kernel can be found, it would be a waste of time to support it in Armbian.