Epidemic GNU Linux

Epidemic GNU Linux is an open-source and completely free distribution of Linux derived from the award-winning and highly acclaimed Debian GNU/Linux operating system, built around the KDE Plasma graphical desktop environment.

It supports only 64-bit hardware platforms, distributed as a Live DVD

Be aware that this is a modern operating system that has been designed from the ground up to be used only on 64-bit capable computers. It is distributed as a Live DVD ISO image of approximately 1.5GB in size, which must be written on a DVD disc or a USB thumb drive in order to boot it from the BIOS of a PC.

A multilingual operating system

This is a multilingual operating system that supports English, Spanish, German and Brazilian Portuguese. These are also the main boot options presented to the user from the get-go.

The KDE Plasma desktop looks fantastic in this distro

As mentioned, the default and only desktop environment of Epidemic GNU Linux is KDE Plasma, which looks fantastic in this distribution, comprised of a single taskbar located on the bottom edge of the screen, from where the user can launch apps, access system functions, configure the OS, navigate between virtual workspaces and interact with running programs.

Default applications

Default applications include the Iceweasel, Rekonq and Konqueror web browsers, VLC Media Player, LibreOffice office suite, KTorrent BitTorrent client, Akregator RSS feed reader, Kopete instant messenger, Konversation IRC client, Amarok audio player, K3b CD/DVD/BD burning software, JuK music player and Dragon Player video player.

Bottom line

Epidemic's main features include the KDE Plasma desktop, CompizFusion, an easy-to-use installer, the GFXBoot bootloader, support for several media codecs, and out-of-the-box support for various proprietary kernel drivers. It is a stable and reliable operating system that can be easily installed as the only OS on your computer.

What is new in this release:

• Besides the bugs fixing and the system polishing , this second beta of Epidemic 3.2 also brings significant new features compared to the previous development version:
• 1 - New Option for ePendrive.
• Besides the known options "Save or Discard", It was also added to the control module ePendrive Systemsettings in the Ask option. Enabling this option, the Epidemic starts to ask during every reboot or shutdown the system if the user wants to save the changes he made while using the livePendrive.
• 2 - Improvement in the easy Channel
• New layout for the pages of easy information channel that came to be written in xhtml.
• 3 - Improved eCommunity
• The eCommunity, in addition to its redesigned interface, It also got a ranking system based on contributions made by community members.
• 4 - Improved support for video cards from Nvidia and ATI
• With the improvement of the system detection and automatic configuration of the proprietary drivers from Nvidia and ATI, some video cards that were not detected correctly on the earlier versions of the Epidemic, also began to be set automatically at the LiveDVD startup without the need for no user intervention. In addition, this new beta was reincluded the Epidemic legacy driver, 173.14.xx, Nvidia, which supports the video ardes series GeForce FX 5 still widely used in Brazil.
• 5 - Improvement in LXDE
• LXDE was included in the Epidemic 3.2 Beta 1 at the first time as an option for desktop lighter. In this second beta, several improvements were made to better integrate the Epidemic LXDE which brings KDE dektop environment as default.
• 6 - Improved support for English
• Thanks to the collaboration of one of the member s from the Epidemic community named as secipolla with several improvements were made to support the Epidemic in English .
• 7 - Synaptic and gdebi-KDE
• In attention to to the Epidemic forums user's request the Synaptic and gdebi-KDE were included again in the replace of the kpackagekit, which should only be definitively incorporated in version 3.3 of the Epidemic, after its integration with eUpgrade.
• In relation to the Epidemic 3.1 (latest stable version) the Epidemic 3.2 Beta 2 also introduces the following improvements:
• 1 - Spanish Support
• Thanks to the job of Miguel Angel Posada Machado who tranlated it into spanish , which It had already been translated into English by R. Otto Heredia de Sa. Now It offers native support for three languages (English, Portuguese and Spanish), which may be chosen to boot the LiveDVD.
• 2 - Development of eUpgrade
• The eUpgrade is a new application developed to facilitate the process of updating the Epidemic in graphics mode. Thanks to the collaboration of one community member named as cochise. It uses The known delta packages to decrease the amount of data to be downloaded, reducing significantly the time required for system upgrade.
• 3 - Development of eMorph
• The eMorph is a new application that functions as a second step in the process of installing the Epidemic, allowing users to install or remove selected sets of programs, extending or reducing the functionality of the system with just a few mouse clicks.
• 4 - New integrated theme for GRUB, Plymouth, KDM and ksplash
• We developed a new integrated theme for GRUB, Plymouth, KDM and ksplash Epidemic, based on the wallpaper My Cool Desktop Error e.
• 5 - Improved Einstaller, ESU and Easy Channel
• We have implemented several improvements in unique applications of the Epidemic, especially for Easy Channel who also won a new task for the installation of Chrome Web browser, developed by James Esteves Vieira.
• 6 - New Kernel
• This new version brings the Epidemic Kernel 2.6.34-686-epidemic, based on the Zen kernel, optimized for the i686 architecture, with support for 3D drivers from nvidia and ati, and several improvements to maximize performance on the desktop.