Switching wired <-> wireless in a user-friendly manner, possible?

[Hans Nieser]

Hello,

I have a laptop that I mainly use at home. It's got both a wired and 
wireless interface, both work fine. I used to run Windows XP on it which 
allowed me to easily switch from the wired interface to the wireless 
interface and vice versa. I found this convenient because I could plugin 
the cable when I have my laptop on my desk for better performance. When I 
wanted to work with the laptop somewhere else, like downstairs or perhaps 
for some reading before I go to sleep, I could just unplug the cable and 
could continue reading websites and access my LAN over the wireless interface.

I have now installed FreeBSD 6.0 on my laptop and am trying to get it to 
behave the same as Windows XP. Right now when I boot the laptop with the 
cable plugged in it will access the LAN over the wired interface (fxp0), 
as soon as I unplug the cable, I lose connectivity and won't route traffic 
over the wireless interface (ipw0).

I am guessing that what needs to happen is, as soon as fxp0 becomes 
inactive, the default route needs to be updated so it will route over the 
ipw0 interface. What is the best way to accomplish this? Do I have to 
write a shellscript that continiously checks for fxp0's status and then 
somehow update the default route, or are there facilities available for this?