NetworkManager

i don't prefer/recommend gnome, as it tries to be everything and do everything. bloatwares usually become #TBTF :( and NetworkManager (pulling in gnome libs) seems to be in that bandwagon..

for now, i'm keeping NetworkManager in #!. wireless auto-connect seems intermittent (more often than not). nm does remember all the settings though. and i can manually connect, when tired of waiting.

nm also has some cmdline tools. i used nmcli in openbox/autostart to force connect wireless. if you use another window manager or log in to console, you could use it in your relevant startup/login scripts.

sleep 1m && \
while [ "$(nmcli -t -f WIFI,STATE nm)" = 'enabled:disconnected' ]
do
nmcli con up id {wireless-ssid}
sleep 5
done &

ref: http://blog.nixpanic.net/2011/01/connect-automatically-and-immediately.html

[Addendum] this laptop has an atheros wireless card, with working drivers in kernel. i also found a driver listed in the debian repository. after installing firmware-atheros, auto-connect issues have become very rare. i have no idea why!