EPIC should be able to compile and run on almost any modern UNIX. Unpack the downloaded source, change into the EPIC source directory then run configure:

./configure

By default, configure sets up the software to be installed to /usr/local. If this is not the case for you (ie, you are not the superuser compiling for the entire system) then you can run configure with the –prefix=/path/to/somewhere option, for example:

./configure --prefix=/usr/home/jnelson

To compile EPIC, in the main source directory type:

make

This will compile the epic (for EPIC4) or epic5 (for EPIC5) and wserv programs. Once the compilation has completed successfully, you can install them:

make install

This will install all the binaries, scripts, man pages, and help files into the installation path.

Without a script pack, EPIC is a faithful replacement for ircII. This won't make you happy. You need to use a script pack. A script pack creates a different (better) user experience that will make you happy. Every script pack is different, because every user is different. Try a few and see what you like! Most scripts are very tweakable to suit your needs.