setup wireless network

[cenarius]

hey guys
      Did anybody know how to connect to a wireless network without using the GUI?  i  look at what program is running when using the GUI to connect to the wireless, and found that they run the wlan-setup, but when i try to just run wlan-setup myself it doesn work?  any ideas?   I guess what i want to say is that picking a wireless network and connect to it using command line..  Thanks in advance.
I am using the Zaurus 6000L
                           

[doseas]

This is my kismet start script, which:
1. "wakes up" (resumes) the WiFi CF card (in case it was in suspend mode)
2. picks the network config called "Kismet"
3. starts the kismet server
4. sets the network config back to the default when the kismet server exits

#!/bin/sh
/sbin/cardctl scheme CardResume
/sbin/cardctl scheme Kismet
/usr/bin/kismet_server
/sbin/cardctl scheme default

The name of the scheme isn't the friendly name that appears in the GUI, but is instead the one appearing in /home/etc/pcmcia/network.opts in the following format:
   Scheme_name,*,*,*)
It is formed from the friendly name with the spaces & illegal chars squeezed out.