Exactly, it is impossible to use a stable long term Linux distribution and node, most packages force you to get the latest or before latest version of node.

Other issue is that things move fast and break, you are not sure that 3 months old tutorial will work in present.

Edit: I know I can and I did grabbed node and npm outside the repositories, but you do not see this issue with other languages where I must install latest stuff to get most libraries working.