I'd like to trigger a Hudson build when one of the devs commits to TFS2012. Is there a way to do this or do I rely on rolling builds configured in Hudson?
I'm happy to Plink/ssh my Linux/Hudson build server if that's an option?
Your best option would be to create a TF Build that triggers your Hudson build. If you download the TFS Community Build Tools you should get an activity to run SSH. Drop that onto a sanitised build workflow and you should be good to go.
http://tfsbuildextensions.codeplex.com/
If you are using TFS 2013 you can call Powershell without having to customise. Then do whatever you need to kick off Hudson. Pass the Build name over to Hudson and you can also wire up for MTM and other goodies.