I don't travel much, but I do have a laptop with a wireless card. When I pick a motel, it has to have wireless. Until now, everyplace I've stayed had the wireless on an unprotected network.

This time when I asked about the network, they resonded, 'Do you need the key?' Said, 'yes,' and they gave it to me. When I went to connect, using Gnome networking, I discovered I also neded to know the ESSID. Called the desk, and, of couse, they didn't have a clue. Switched over to Windows, and it picked up the ESSID automatically, and just needed the key. Went back to Linux, entered the ESSID and the key, No more problems.

My question is, how do I automatically, or at least easily, pick up the ESSID of an active wireless network from within Linux?

From a console as root type: iwlist scan
The output will give all info about available networks.

If you run KDE3.4 there is a tool "Kinternet" in the system tray.
This gui gives status, traffic, power, etc, etc.

If its not a hidden ESSID, which at a hotel it wont be, you can also use

wifi-radar


should be in apt

soule

It's not. Not even in Sid. Evidently it's only in the ubuntu repos as a .deb package. I'll keep an eye out for it. OTOH, iwlist scan and KwifiManager handle it fine.

Thanks all.