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Newbie questions on Linux wifi

I've got a Thinkpad X61s loaded with Debian sidux and am able to connect to my wireless router AP. So my questions are, in effect, where do I go from here?

a) I've got AT&T wireless service, and am told that when I happen to be within a hotspot location, I should be able to scan for APs and identify the AT&T netork as "attwifi". Is the procedure to head out to a hot spot, scan for this attwifi AP, and then set up a profile for that network? That is, I'd like to be able to connect with wifi from console or terminal.

b) Will that one profile serve for all AT&T hotspots across the country? Is there anyway to find out the location of hotspots without actually being there? If I plan to travel to Podunk Hollow, for example, can I know in advance there's a hotspot in Joe's Barber Shop?

c) I scanned for hotspots using a gui utility named "wifi-radar". Can I do the same thing from command line? That is, what commands would be used to 1) scan for hotspots, 2) define their profiles, c) connect to one?

d) When I boot with a CAT5 cable connected to my router, I find that eth0 is UP and obtains an IP address from it, while the wlan0 interface is DOWN. To connect by wifi, I have to issue the commands # ifconfig eth0 down and # ifconfig wlan0 up. This works, and I prefer a command line, but not sure if this is the proper way to do it.

e) How would I reverse priority so that when I boot wlan0 starts in an UP condition, and eth0 is down. Do I simply reverse the order of the stanzas in /etc/network/interfaces ?

Reply to
Haines Brown
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Following up on myself, After a couple days spent doing it, I've managed to answer most of my questions, although my answers remain tentative and were picked up by accident as I stubmled about in the dark. Life would have been easier had I known of a handy source for the definitions of key terms and concepts and had found a simple overview.

My only remaining question:

Reply to
Haines Brown

Not really. Any centralized list would require the hotspot provider to put themselves on the list. And there could be many non-related lists.

Now commercial hotspots likes McDonalds, Starbucks, etc. can be found on their respective home pages.

Reply to
DTC

That's actually a helpful reply, for I never suspected such. Thanks.

Reply to
Haines Brown

You might try a google search for hotspot "Podunk Hollow" Quite effective. A more structured approach might include

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which has a lot of spots, and any spot can list themselves there.

Reply to
dold

Clarence, thanks for the information. I spent some time yesterday just stumbling about on line, and slowly a picture is beginning to emerge. There's no system for finding free hotspots, but with persistence it seems one can identify most of them at a remote place.

In experimenting with a search for "Podunk hotspot" (no hits for "'Podunk Hollow' hotspot" ;-), came to realize there are "hotspot directory" list such as

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A search for "hotspot directory" on google brings up quite a few directories of hotspot listings.

Reply to
Haines Brown

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