Just tried to install Adobe reader with following result;

[user@myplace user]$ rpm -ivh AdobeReader_enu-7.0.8-1.i386.rpm
error: Failed dependencies:
gtk2 >= 2.4.0 is needed by AdobeReader_enu-7.0.8-1

I searched available packages and packages containing gtk2 in their name were numerous. Which gtk2 application do I need and where can I get it?
Yes, I have searched the Web and these forums.

The package you need to install is called gtk+2.0. It should be on your installation discs. If your version is older than gtk 2.4 then Adobe Reader won't work.

I found the downloads at;
http://mail.gnome.org/archives/gtk-d.../msg00003.html

The instructions for installation were at;
http://developer.gnome.org/doc/API/2...-building.html

I have 2 chances of making this work, neither are good.
Does anyone know where I can get an rpm file or a simpler way of getting gtk+2.0 installed?

Installing the latest Adobe reader is becoming bigger than Ben Hur!

That's why we keep biting the bullet and installing a new OS roughly every 12 months. I'm already coming up against software problems and this OS version is merely a babe.

I installed a Gentoo-based distro in the hope of continuous updating but got too tired to keep it going.

I still have an rpm for 7.0.1 and there is nothing wrong with that version of Adobe Reader. Of course, ....

Yes, any remotely recent version of Adobe reader will do. If it will install on my system as is, this would be the way to go. Mucking around with GTK+2 is too time consuming.

Update OS every 12 months? This aspect of OS management is a big pitfall. There has to be a better way. Its fine for experts. I guess you would have to put various parts of the file system on different partitions to allow you to do this otherwise you would be starting again every 12 months. I have had Mandrake 10 for a few years and I am STILL getting it configured to suit me. Every 12 months? Forget it. I can see how I should be doing this, but it seems having a computer would start to become counterproductive for me if I went this route, spending endless hours configuring without ever reaching the end. I could get the old typewriter out and have my docs finished faster!

After poking around on Adobe's site, I found a download page for the earlier version. The system requirements seem kinder as well.

Thanks a lot. I will check it out.

I tried to install an earlier version and 2 errors occured as follows;

[user@aplace user]$ rpm -ivh AdobeReader_enu-7.0.1-1.i386.rpm
error: cannot open lock file ///var/lib/rpm/RPMLOCK in exclusive mode
error: cannot open Packages database in /var/lib/rpm

How can I overcome these 2 problems?
I searched the Net to no avail.

You need to be root.

If you already have Adobe Reader installed (i.e. an older version), you should also use -Uvh instead of -ivh. I use -Uvh always because it always serves, even if it's a fresh install instead of an upgrade.

Thanks a lot, that seemed to work (executing as root). I had no Adobe reader installed previously, and I had already used the command
rpm -ivh
before noranthon suggested using the rpm -Uvh command.
Now my problem is where did the application get installed, what is the command to use it and how do I make it the default application to open PDF files?

Judging by what happened on my system, the software will be installed in /usr/local/Adobe and there will be a link "acroread" in /usr/bin which you can use as the executable.

I never used Mandrake. In Mandriva, you could alter the system and root menus in the control centre and, in kde, alter the user menu by right-clicking the menu icon and selecting "edit menu" or something similar. All you need for the command is acroread.

You can normally alter file associations via the file browser. Right-click a pdf file and select "properties" or "open with".

Fantastic help, thanks a lot. It all works perfectly now. I created a launcher that uses the command;
/usr/bin/acroread
I can finally read PDF files consistently. The Gnome PDF viewer that I was using had many problems and would not open many PDF files properly.