This reply may be a bit too late, but nevertheless, might be useful to someone.
Regarding the Motorola SURFboard manual: ugh.. what a horrible manual! Confusing use of acronyms, no glossary, no mention of Linux, as you say. I had a look at Suddenlink's customer portal and apart from a link to linux.org, they appear to have no knowledge of Linux at all - what a disappointing state of affairs. On wireless configuration:
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I know most of the information such as SSID, WPA passkey, HFC MAC ID, etc. I have other tabs and fields in linux I don't know how to fill out. For example, should I need to enter a BSSID?, what selections do I make for the tabs IPv6 and IPv4; and others.
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BSSID: 'Basic Service Set Identifier': the MAC address of the access point (cable modem's wireless adaptor, in this case).
NORMALLY NOT NEEDED because the SSID (network name) is used to identify the network.
You should
not need to enter any information relating to the cable modem settings, since it does this itself and just passes all traffic to your system, via Ethernet. From the Linux end of the connection, you just need to use a normal Ethernet connection, or a wireless connection (Ethernet is better, until you get it sorted) and all settings should be on 'automatic'.
If you are having problems, it looks like your cable provider may be to blame and in spite of what they say, they
do support you as far as the cable service goes.
Chapter 6 of the SURFboard manual discusses setting up a wireless network. Ignoring WPS for the moment, you'd do this (quoting the manual, with my comments added):
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1. Log on to the modem's interface.
2. Click Wireless.
3. Click Primary Network.
4. Enable the Primary Network.
5. Disable or select the Automatic Security Configuration (WPS or SES).
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(Disable this, initially)
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6. Enter the name of your wireless network in the Network Name (SSID) field.
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Pick anything memorable - it'll be visible to other wireless users too, of course.
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7. Select an Automatic Security Configuration option:
Disabled – User must configure the system manually
WPS (WiFi Protected) – Easy and quick start up
SES – (Secure Easy Set-up) – Better security, slow set-up
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I would choose 'Disabled' here.
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8. Select the Security Method:
WPA Wi-Fi Protected Access
WPA-PSK Wi-Fi Protected Access with Pre-Shared Key, standard encryption
WPA2 Wi-Fi Protected Access version 2 with Pre-Shared Key, standard
encryption with the AES encryption type
WPA2-PSK Wi-Fi Protected Access version 2 with Pre-Shared Key
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I'd choose 'WPA-PSK' and enter a passkey - or you can choose Motorola's preset passkey. If possible, disable WPA altogether, and use an unencrypted connection - if it'll let you - you can enable it when you know that the wireless link is working.
On your computer, add a connection for the WG311T, and enter the same information as above.
If you have any further trouble, it'd be helpful if you could post a screenshot of your desktop, so I can see what configuration apps you are using. I briefly used Mint, but had some kernel issues that sent me running back to Ubuntu.
Lex