ESP8266 Community Forum

Folks, I was reading this page on our wiki:

http://www.esp8266.com/wiki/doku.php?id=connect_to_esp8266_only_using_arduino_uno

And was surprised to read that the Arduino TX is connected to TX on the ESP8266 and that the Arduino RX is connected to RX on the ESP8266. I'm very much a newbie and I'd assumed that TX->RX and RX->TX. Are the instructions in error or am I missing a concept (or something else)?

Later ... I built out the Wiki page example ... and it seems to work exactly as advertised. I'm still curious on TX->TX as opposed to the "switch around" that I thought might happen. But it does work as described.

the arduino itself is not being used, you are simply using the ftdi chip on the board to communicate with the esp and programming it directly.
you could remove the arduino off the board if you want, or simply use a usb-rs232 adapter, which is a better idea since you can get 3.3v versions.

Thanks Stoney, I received the ESP8266 but failed to order a USB-UART adapter and wanted to see what options would be available to me while I wait for the part to arrive. I'm 100% new to the ESP8266.