Yes, it connects directly to the Pi.

I already had a case with space for a HAT, since this is a fairly common thing it is easy to find cases with space for the hat. The connection points are also all in the same location so you can easily find universal cases that support it.

The Waveshare motor hat connects directly to the same Pi that runs kstars/EKOS. It can drive 2 stepper motors at the same time, and has multiple connection options either via a standard connector, terminal blocks, or headers.

The HAT takes 12v input via a barrel connector, so it is easy to power alongside cooled cameras or other 12v things like dew heaters. No more need to have a 3amp usbc input to power the Pi as the HAT will power it directly.

You don't need to have the Pi near the motor, it uses a 4 wire connection and so you can easily get a wire long enough to place the Pi somewhere other than on the scope, mine is about a foot away from the focuser, but it could be farther.

Kevin has made a driver that will handle everything you need. It lets you set the stepping speed, motor backlash, etc.

It was super easy to setup for me, just put the HAT on the Pi, plug the wire from the stepper motor into the terminal block and then set the delay in the driver. The motor is connected to the fine focus shaft on my focuser and has no issues with torque. I removed the fine focus knob and used a coupler to connect the shafts. I did design and 3d print a bracket to hold the motor and connect to my focuser, but you can pick up a commercial metal bracket that can be adapted.

You do need to build the driver as it is not included in the Stellarmate OS, but, it is a very simple procedure, and all of the steps are outlined on the driver's page. You do need to figure out how to wire the motor into the HAT, in my case the motor was not labeled the same as the HAT, which was the only annoyance.

Once the driver is setup, you just use it like any other driver in kstars/EKOS.

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