Testing and using a ESP8266 board
Electronic Setup
Supply the board with 3.3V on VCC, best run it with a voltage source or regulator that can at least deliver 300mA (many arduino boards have 3.3V regulators on board, but they deliver less than 300mA). Initial testes just with a ftdi usb to serial converters show unstable wifi connections, sometimes even board startup is impossible (the esp8266 board draws too much current).
Testing the Board with AT Commands
full reference of all AT commands: http://bbs.espressif.com/download/file.php?id=256
AT+RST - resets the board:
ATE1 (verbose)
ATE0 (non verbose)
AT+CWMODE=1 station mode (join an existing wifi network)
AT+CWMODE=2 access point mode (create a new wifi network)
AT+CWMODE=3 access point mode + station mode (create a wifi and join an other one at the same time)
AT+CWJAP="SSID","Your Password" (join a network with the ssid (visible name) and your wifi password)create a simple server:
AT+CIPMUX=1 (1: server accepts multiple connection, 0: single connections only)
AT+CIPSERVER=1,80 (1: create 0:destroy server, 80: listening on port 80)now you can try to connect to your server, eg with your browser. we need the ip address for that.
find the ip of the board:
AT+CIFSRother convenient tests: in the shell: telnet, netcat in puredata: netsend