Ubuntu 8.10 comes with an all new network manager. It has many improvemnets  over the previous one. Connecting to Internet through mobile phone via GPRS and EDGE has become so easy a thing in this new Gnome-Network-Manager. But it came with some issues too. It got a lot of flak for its inability to save the Static IP. When you edit the default  "Auto eth0 " for static IP, it simply resets to its default mode everytime when you reboot. Moreover, it was such a pain to share files through LAN. But a simple tweak can help you save the day. Read along.

• In the Panel above, in your Ubuntu desktop, right click on the Network icon.

• Choose the edit connection option and then click ADD. Create a new wired connection in this way.

• Then in the IPV4 settings tab, the space for the Method is to be changed to  Manual option.

• Then enter the new Static IP, netmask and the Gateway address  you want to give by clicking on the ADD button.

                  eg: Static IP  :   192.168.1.1
                         Netmask:  255.255.255.0
                         Gateway :  192.168.1.4

• Click OK to save the settings.

 Thats it ! Now if you want to use the Static IP, click on the network icon in the above Panel and select the new  wired connection. Now you are connected to internet via your new static IP address. enjoy :-)