Questions[wireless](ubuntu)

Other posts seems to be addressing more complicated network connection issues from the command line.

The Unity panel Network indicator/button doesn't respond too well sometimes - it keeps trying to connect to a network even when i click on "disconnect", stuff like that.

So I want to go command line for the control. I don't like GUIs anyway.

Is there not some simple command line tool which can do something like the following?

wifi connect MyNetworkNameA
wifi disconnect
wifi connect MyNetworkNameB

Every time at boot I get a message “Network service discovery disabled. Your current network has a .local domain, which is not recommended and incompatible with the Avahi network service discovery. The service has been disabled.”

What does this mean for me?

Wi-Fi is disabled.

I know how to create a hotspot when connected to a wired network, but when I am using internet from a WiFi connection, this disconnects the wireless connection the moment I activate the hotspot.

In Windows I can use Connectify Hotspot, which enables me to share the internet connection from the same wireless adapter as I am creating an access point on. As you can read on the technology overview page:

Access Point mode allows you to create a hotspot using the same Wi-Fi card that you are using to access the Internet.

How do I do this on Ubuntu?

How to setup an Access Point (AP) mode Wi-Fi Hotspot?

Point to be noted: Wireless access points aren't the same as ad hoc networks. They differ significantly. In short, ad hoc networks aren't supported on newer devices and most Android, Windows Phone and Blackberry devices (and maybe iOS devices too), whereas AP mode Wi-Fi hotspots are. To get an idea about AP mode hotspots, ad hoc networks and their difference, refer to this Wikipedia page.

So basically, I'd like to use iwconfig to connect to my wifi network when I'm not inside X. But I just don't see a way to do it in the man page. Any idea?