Ubuntu and static IPs

It is difficult to configure an Ubuntu 8.10 Desktop to have a static IP due to some software called Gnome Network Manager smashing the relevant configuration file. The following blog post has more information:
http://chrisjohnston.org/2008/set-up-a-static-ip-address-on-your-ubuntu-810-desktop

EDIT: Even if you do this, especially if you are running services like web or irc, you may run into problems with Ubuntu assuming you want dhcp and getting confused. I found that removing dhcp3-client and dhcp3-common is necessary for a functional box. You will have to remove ubuntu-minimal to do this, but the Ubuntu forums reassure me it is OK.