Phenquestions
Adobe Acrobat Reader is the most widely used cross-platform PDF reader, or well at least until they decided to not support Linux anymore. Although it is not the lightest on the system resources, it is reliable, and the free version is enough for most of the daily needs. It lets you sign PDFs and also fill forms before taking a print out on paper.
Adobe has stopped supporting Linux. The last official Adobe Reader is version 9.5.5 released in 2013.
I use LibreOffice Draw for my PDF needs, but now and then I see formatting issues when I open PDF via LibreOffice Draw. That's when I use Adobe Acrobat Reader, and it works flawlessly. There is no magic in it. It's just that the most commonly used PDF creator used worldwide is again from Adobe. So it's their PDF ecosystem they have created.
Install Adobe Acrobat Reader in Ubuntu and Linux Mint
Since Adobe no longer supports Linux, you won't be able to install the latest Adobe Reader on Linux. The last available build for Linux is version 9.5.5. I will show you how to install it. The installation is tested in Ubuntu 16.04 but should work on versions above too.
STEP 1: Launch 'Terminal.'
STEP 2: We need to install certain 32-bit libraries for the Adobe Reader to work flawlessly. Enter the following command.
sudo apt install libxml2:i386 libcanberra-gtk-module:i386 gtk2-engines-murrine:i386 libatk-adaptor:i386
STEP 3: Enter the following command to install gdebi package installer.
sudo apt-get install gdebi-core
Enter the root password to complete the gdebi installation. If it doesn't prompt for one, nothing to worry. Wait for the installation complete notification in the Terminal.
STEP 4: We shall install Adobe Reader now. Copy and Paste the following command in the Terminal. Use the right-click context menu to paste. Ctrl +V won't work in Terminal. This command will download the pdf installer Debian binary from Adobe's official servers.
wget ftp://ftp.adobe.com/pub/adobe/reader/unix/9.x/9.5.5/enu/AdbeRdr9.5.5-1_i386linux_enu.deb
STEP 5: Use the gdebi command to install the downloaded .deb binary package.
sudo gdebi Adbe*.deb
STEP 6: Enter the root password when prompted.
Conclusion
That's it! You should have the Abobe Reader ready to launch from the Application menu.
Tip: If you are looking for an Adobe PDF reader alternative, I recommend qpdfview. It is available from Ubuntu Software. It is light-weight and has a tabbed user interface. For PDF editor, I suggest using Libre Office Draw, which works excellently for editing PDF. It is also available for free download from Ubuntu Software.
