How do I install the latest version of node.js?

Per the Node.js website:

# Using Ubuntu
curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_14.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt-get install -y nodejs

Then, you will have the latest version of Node.js.

If you're not a fan of curl <url> | bash -, or are using an unsupported distribution, you can try a manual installation.

Node is one of the easier projects to build. Just change the version as that continues to change.

Browse to http://nodejs.org/dist/latest/ to find out the latest package version.

cd /usr/local/src
wget http://nodejs.org/dist/latest/node-v7.2.1.tar.gz
tar -xvzf node-v7.2.1.tar.gz
cd node-v7.2.1
./configure
make
sudo make install
which node

You should see /usr/local/bin/node.

Yes, go to Synaptic, search for "nodejs". The packages are located in the universe repository. I suggest you install all of the packages starting with nodejs if you are doing development.

Just in case that doesn't work:

sudo apt-get install g++ curl libssl-dev apache2-utils git-core
git clone git://github.com/joyent/node.git
cd node
./configure
make
sudo make install

That will download the sourcecode of node.js, make it and install it.