Installing Adobe Reader 9.1.2 (acroread) on Ubuntu 9.0.4

by David Orkin on Oct.08, 2009,under Ubuntu, PDF

Where there are some free alternatives for viewing pdfs on linux they just don't look right when there is Japanese in the pdf. So I decided to install Adobe Reader for linux. In the past this might have been a task that would be slightly less painful than say pulling out my fingernails with a pair of pliers These days it is pretty painless. Below is the steps to get Adobe Reader installed on Ubuntu.

Step 1 - Download Adobe Reader from the Adobe website.

Get Adobe Reader

Step 2 - Run The Binary you just downloaded

For my machine the binary file is AdbeRdr9.1.2-1_i486linux_enu.bin but it may be different for you depending on your machine. This is the command to run the binary. Note that I am in the same directory that I downloaded the file into.

sudo ./AdbeRdr9.1.2-1_i486linux_enu.bin

You will be prompted to choose an installation directory (or just hit return if your fine with the default) and then you will see the output listed below.

Extracting files, please wait. (This may take a while depending on the configuration of your machine)

This installation requires 145 MB of free disk space.

Enter installation directory for Adobe Reader 9.1.2 [/opt]  
/opt

Installing platform independent files ... Done
Installing platform dependent files ... Done
Setting up libraries ... Done
Setting up desktop and menu icons ... Done
Setting up the browser plugin ... Done

Once its done you should now have a working version of Adobe Reader on your linux box.

To run Adobe Reader simply type "acroread" from the command line and Adobe Reader will launch. You can also launch it from the Applications -> Office Menu. The first time you run it you will be presented with Adobe's EULA, after accepting it, you are free to run Adobe Reader.