how to connect to a bare board using a 168a pu?

Async serial idles "high" on the Arduino. That is, +5V is normal, on both pins, if they are doing nothing. Mind you, it is the sending end that would be doing the idling. So, unconnected to anything, I would expect the Tx pin to be high, and the Rx pin to be low or not determined. But if you are using an FTDI cable, I would expect both pins to be high.