The regular  network manager does  wifi just dandy, but NetworkManager  is the sh*t for lappies that travel.

alt+f2, gksudo synaptic, and install

network-manager
network-manager-gnome
network-manager-pptb (not  sure if this is crucial, but why not? )

then edit your /etc/network/interfaces file as with your fave text editor as root:

gksudo gedit  

edit out with the "#" symbol anything that isnt  "auto lo"

Mine  now reads:

Quote# This file describes the network interfaces available on your system
# and how to activate them. For more information, see interfaces(5).

# The loopback network interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

# This is a list of hotpluggable network interfaces.
# They will be activated automatically by the hotplug subsystem.


# The primary network interface
# iface eth0 inet dhcp
   # wireless-* options are implemented by the wireless-tools package
   wireless-mode managed
   wireless-essid default

# auto eth0

restart your boxen and youll get a cool applet in your systray that lets you view and choose networks.

ledddgeeennddd !!

[burns]Excellent![/burns]