Ok, I'm having some super elementary problems here. I'm just starting out with these ESP8266 boards, and so I haven't even been able to get anything happening. Not even a serial connection with the Arduino monitor. I also tried using Putty but nothing happening there either.
Let's me explain some things I've tried.
To begin with I have the module wired up as per this article:
Getting Started with the ESP8266
Although they say to use a 1k and a 2.2k resistor. But they don't say which is which? So I used a 1k resistor in both places.
I'm also using a buck voltage regulator set to 3.3 volts. And a FDTI USB serial module set to 3.3vots. I have them both grounded to a common ground.
I'm starting with a very simple ASCIITable example sketch. I've loaded this sketch on an Arduino Uno and it runs as expected.
However, when I try to load this sketch on the ESP8266 things don't go well.
To begin with after uploading the program I get an error msg saying that there was a problem uploading the code. I'm uploading at 9600 baud. I tried uploading at 115200 but that fails instantly. At 9600 baud it at least appears to upload. It goes all the way to the end and then reports that there was an error uploading.
Then when I open the serial monitor on the Arduino IDE I do get a very small set of garbage characters. (that's progress since I was getting nothing before). It appears to be sending about 25 or 50 characters. Then it pauses, and sends another 25 or so. Also if I hit the reset button that also causes it to send this same shot of garbage characters. So it's trying to do something. And the reset function appears to be working to some degree.
I'm wondering if I need to change some settings?
I'm basically set up with the default settings for a generic ESP8266 board:
Flash Mode QIO
Flash Size 512k (no SPIFFS)
Debug Port (disabled)
Debug Level (none)
lwIP variant "V2 lower memory"
reset method "clk"
Crystal Freq 26Mhz
Flash Freq 40 Mhz
CPU Freq 80 Mhz
Builtin LED 2
Upload speed 9600 (was originally set to 115200 but that won't work at all)
Erase Flash "Only Sketch"
Port COM4 (I'm sure that much is correct) It actually does download the program
Get Board Info returns:
BN: Unknown board
VID: 0403
PID: 6001
SN: Upload any sketch to obtain it
But it doesn't seem to take a sketch upload cleanly.
I have two of these boards and I've tried both of them. They both seem to be acting in the same way.
Obviously I'm not going to be doing any UDP when I can't even get a simple example program to run on these.