Help controlling linear actuator with Arduino Uno

First of all: how do you debug the transmitted values? The Uno only has one Serial device, which can be used either for USB or external serial communication, but not both. If your breakout board connects to RX and TX, you cannot use Serial for debugging.

For an exploration of serial connections I'd use a Mega with 4 Serial devices in hardware, so that Serial can be reserved for debugging while Serial1 etc. are free for further connections.