"I didn't realize that there would be no way to get an IP address into the device other than using DHCP. This has not been talked about much, but presumably it makes this a device a non-starter for some people."

You can specify an IP, it's just non-obvious:

Control Panel... Connectivity... Connections... <choose connection> & hit Edit... hit Next until you can hit the 'Advanced' button... second tab lets you specify IP & DNS.