Now I have plugged the esp into a FT232RL usb to serial adapter. I installed the drivers, installed the addon for Arduino IDE, I pick the board and the port. I launch serial monitor and nothing. I tried baud 9600 and 115200, and nothing happens when I type in AT.
I have tried this on Windows 7 and Mac OS, after installing the FT232RL driver on each.
I have tried with two working ESP8266 (work when connnected to my Uno)
I also tried powering it from my Uno instead of from the FT232RL, in case it was a power issue, no dice.
When I connect to my Uno TX->TX and RX->RX and when I connect to the FT232RL I did the same connection. When I transmit AT I see a blue light blink on the ESP, that seems like a good sign?
I also tried reversing the connections since all guides say Tx->Rx, then no blue light blinks.
There must be some key that I'm missing to getting this thing to work with the FT232RL, does anyone know?