Can't connetc to hidden wireless network

On Kubuntu 11.10 it's impossible to create a new working connection to a non-broadcasting wireless network, without doing some CLI magic at the same time. When the connection once has been up and running, reconnection on reboots works fine.

On (my dual-boot) Ubuntu 11.10 the CLI magic wasn't necessary, and you can connect fast and easy through the nm-applet GUI, using [Connect to a hidden wireless network] from it's main menu.

The problem seems to have been solved upstreams though, as installing the Precis pre-alpha package on 11.10 solves the problem - as do installing Precise daily build 2011-10-22.

The excact Precise pre-alpha package used to test was found at the bottom of:

https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/networkmanagement/0.9~svngit.nm09.20111023.ff842e-0ubuntu1/+build/2871626/+files/plasma-widget-networkmanagement_0.9%7Esvngit.nm09.20111023.ff842e-0ubuntu1_amd64.deb
And the i386 package at:

https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/networkmanagement/0.9~svngit.nm09.20111023.ff842e-0ubuntu1/+build/2871628/+files/plasma-widget-networkmanagement_0.9%7Esvngit.nm09.20111023.ff842e-0ubuntu1_i386.deb

The plasma nm-applet now shows a entry field for <hidden network> in the list when the the button [show more] is pressed in the main screen.

This problem is reported as a new bug, while is seems that the rather old bug #330811 (from Jaunty) can't be reopened or marked as New.
The CLI workaround used to make the original released but buggy
plasma-widget-networkmanagement_0.9~svngit.nm09.20110610.0c83d8-0ubuntu5
in Kubuntu 11.10 connect the first time is: sudo iwconfig wlan0 essid [Hidden ESSID Name]