Setting static IP address

[tudza]

I run into two problems when trying to set my Kubuntu box to a static IP address.

The first problem is that, although the network settings screen says there is an administrator button to click to change settings, there really is not.  This is not a problem, I simply do the command-line $sudo systemsettings and I can change things.

The second problem is that when I switch to manual and set things, the IP does get set correctly and stays the same from re-boot to re-boot, but my default gateway doesn't seem to stick around.  The result is that my machine cannot use the Internet.

Is there some sort of "How-to" for this procedure so I can make absolutely sure I'm setting everything correctly before I decided that systemsettings has a real problem?  Is there an alternate method for setting my machine to a static IP address that I could try?