>> I never did figure out (or remember) how to use
>> wpa_supplicant, although
>> IIRC connecting to a wifi network is just two commands.‎

When using wpa_supplicant you have two commands as well.
Actual wpa_supplicant and DHCP.

man wpa_supplicant and man wpa_supplicant.conf

Instead of writing endless wpa_supplicant
-c/blah/blah.conf
I use a script, you can also add it to startup.

Mitt