Even though Adobe Reader is not supported by Adobe anymore the last version 9.5.5.1 ( and all previous versions ) are still available on the Adobe ftp site.
ftp://ftp.adobe.com/pub/adobe/reader...9.x/9.5.5/enu/
The last version is also available from other sites such as Softpedia. This may solve your problem.
The fact that it isn't supported by Adobe simply means that they stopped producing new versions for Linux. If older versions work fine for your use then you can use them until the end of time. As long as you can access and install older versions, and you can, you can keep them forever.
Security issues will not matter for offline reading of pdfs. As long as the Spider Man pdfs from the early 2000s don't have any malware you will be fine. You would simply use Adobe Reader 9.5.5 for viewing them and for nothing else. These pdfs came on CDs, physical media, from the company which produced them and not from some foreign hackers trying to create malicious pdf attachments to take over your computer.
"You're asking how to defeat protection on a document. That probably violates LQ TOS."
Actually he's not. He's simply trying to view pdfs that he paid for. Trying all of the pdf viewers out there isn't breaking any sort of encryption. He's simply viewing files. If Adobe reader or some other application doesn't show the watermark you would simply use that application to view these files. There is no file modification at all. This is quite an angry and uncalled for comment.
"well
The Gimp , LibreOffice , Okular , Evince , pdf2ps ,pdftoppm ,pdfimages
all can read a pdf......"
If you read the original message the problem is not reading pdf files. The OP is already using Okular and is having the watermark problem. Well it would help if you read the original post. By the way the last three options are more for printing or extracting images.
