SOLVED:
run either at a command line or in a script. I call mine
wifion.sh
#!/bin/sh
tce-load -i wireless-2.6.33.3-tinycore.tcz
tce-load -i wireless_tools.tcz
sleep 5
sudo iwconfig wlan0 essid "Your Wifi Hot Spot" rts 250 frag 400 txpower 100mW
sleep 5
sudo udhcpc -b -i wlan0
ping -c4 google.com
txpower, rts and frag are not required and some devices are unlikely to accept them - may cause error message - I use them to force my antenna to go high power to shoot a 1/4 mile signal across a lot of cross traffic interference where many antennas are sharing the same channels. the smaller frag and rts settings reduce packet size - and speed - but increase reliability.
I run the script before loading Firefox and re-run it with a click if my signal drops - works like a charm every time, although if you move around to other hot spots you would have to edit and change the wifi essid name in quotes - simple enough with this command
To edit:
use file manager or find the file and type
editor wifion.sh &
To run
click in file manager or in terminal type
./wifion.sh
for new users learning to use the ./ before running a script caused me a bit of grief - learning curve.
For some reason when I just click in file manager it just blinks and does nothing - sometimes - so I usually have to go to a terminal after finding the file. Someone here could probably teach you to make it a desktop icon.
Also at a terminal after loading wifi tools and firefox, you may want to review the commands
iwlist
iwlist scanning
ifconfig
and other commands found at a pretty good tutorial
http://www.linuxhomenetworking.com/wiki/index.php/Quick_HOWTO_:_Ch13_:_Linux_Wireless_Networkingthat covers a lot of ground and common problems including using ndiswrapper - which I did not have to do.
You may want to look at this command
dmesg | tail -50
to see if your system recognizes and creates and association with any WLAN devices when you boot.
If your system sees it the wifi tools or other aps should be able to find it as well and you can even check your signal strength and quality in the results of some of those commands. If you have a device, signal and have quality, the script should connect you - at least it does here every time.
...thank you Juanito and Lee.