Error: No compatible version found

I thought I’d give ionic a look-see, so I’m trying to install it on ubuntu 12.04.01 desktop.

I installed nodejs and npm using apt-get, then cordova using npm. However when I try to install ionic using npm, it fails on various components (connect-livereload, cross-spawn, colors, …), saying “No compatible version found”.

When I check the components’ web sites, the versions seem OK: e.g. according to https://www.npmjs.org/package/cross-spawn the current version is 0.2.3, and the error message when installing cross-spawn clearly lists 0.2.3 as a valid target.

Any suggestions?