woohoo!! ok, I've spent more time trying to get the WiFi working than anything else.

I tried everything... surely it is not difficult, considering how easy everything else was, no? No. The built-in WiFi configuration tool didn't not work for me. I found a cool WiFi tool called wicd. For more information see wifi on raspberry pi: a simple guide, at raspyfi.com  (but it didn't work for my problem, either)

So the deal is: WiFi is easy to setup on RPi as long as the target AP has a ssid that is broadcasted . I prefer the security of an unbroadcasted ssid.  (details, details)

Google to the rescue! I found this awesome article on settig up the RPi as a WiFi radio. On the setup page, the author describes in detail how to setup WiFi with a hidden ssid.

We all know how over the years links change or simply go away, so I've copied the critical hidden ssid setup text from that article here (credit to Philip Burgess at adafruit ):

Hidden Networks

If you run a hidden WiFi network — one that does not broadcast its SSID — this can still be made to work but is considerably more complicated. The slightest typo here, even one character, can prevent the system from joining the network! We strongly recommend using a “broadcast” network, it’s far easier and less error-prone.

sudo nano /etc/network/interfaces

Delete the {last} two lines {under "iface wlan0 inet dhcp" }   (wpa-ssid and wpa-psk) and replace with (indented): 

pre-up wpa_supplicant -Dwext -i wlan0 -c /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf -B

sudo nano /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf 

ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant

update_config=1

ap_scan=2

eapol_version=1

network={

 ssid="my-network-ssid"

 scan_ssid=1

 mode=0

 proto=WPA2

 auth_alg=OPEN

 pairwise=CCMP

 group=CCMP

 key_mgmt=WPA-PSK

 psk="my-network-password"
}
Replace ssid and psk with your actual network name and password, in quotes.

Important: indent the 'network' section using tabs, not spaces.
In the end, my \\raspberrypi\c$\etc\network\interfaces file looks like this:

auto lo



iface lo inet loopback


iface eth0 inet dhcp




auto wlan0


allow-hotplug wlan0


iface wlan0 inet dhcp


  pre-up wpa_supplicant -Dwext -i wlan0 -c /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf -B
And my \\raspberrypi\c$\etc\wpa_supplicant\wpa_supplicant.conf file looks like this (with my ssid and psk where noted):


ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant


update_config=1


ap_scan=2


eapol_version=1


network={


 ssid="myssid"


 scan_ssid=1


 mode=0


 proto=WPA2


 auth_alg=OPEN


 pairwise=CCMP


 group=CCMP


 key_mgmt=WPA-PSK


 psk="mypsk"

}

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