This is a reply to AstroMuni's note a few posts up. Unfortunately, the Quote mechanism on this site doesn't work, so my initial reply was badly garbled.

AstroMuni said:
"You could set up Wifi connection on the RPi to connect to your Router. That way it should pick up an IP from your router at next boot"

This is right as far as it goes, but it's a bit more complicated than that.

For example, the instructions for Astroberry don't get this quite right when they say:

After the first boot, search for 'astroberry' wireless hotspot and connect your PC to it using 'astroberry' for password. Point your browser to astroberry.local or https://10.42.0.1 to access Astroberry Server. For the Internet access connect your Astroberry to your home wireless network. Right-click top bar Wi-Fi icon and edit Wireless connection by entering your home network SSID and password.

Adding the network via the GUI disconnects the noVNC session rendering it unusable. This cannot be done in real time.

AstroArch's directions don't lead you down that path, but they don't tell you how to set up the connection to your network either.

The right thing to do, once the connection is made via the hotspot is to add your home network SSID and password using the application

nm-connection-editor

, then rebooting the Pi. It is possible there may be latency periods involved. But once the connection is up, it should remain solid.

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Material added to a post via the quote icon does not make it into the published post! This is a very annoying time-waster.

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Grrrrrrr! The quote mechanism is broken on this site. My previous post had quotes added and they are dropped when published!

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Yes, this is the right answer but it's a little more complicated than that. For example, the instructions for astroberry don't get this quite right when they say:
Adding the network via the GUI disconnects the noVNC session rendering it unusable. This cannot be done in real time.

AstroArch's directions don't lead you down that path, but they don't tell you how to set up the connection to your network either.

The right thing to do, once the connection is made via the hotspot is to add your home network SSID and password using the application

nm-connection-editor

Okay. I have downloaded the astroarch distro and flashed it onto a micro SD card.
I find the following:
I can log onto the WiFi Hotspot but none of the suggested methods for connecting with browser work.
My Raspberry Pi motherboard says "Raspberry Pi 4 Model B. Copyright 2018". I can't tell what version this is. I am not sure how to connect this to a monitor to provide the diagnostic you request. Please advise.

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Thank you. I don't know much (I.e., know nothing) about ArchLinux, more of a Ubuntu user, but wth, Linux is Linux. I am going to give this a try. It seems to have what I need, Astroberry seems to be at a dead end unless someone revives it and iastroarch seems worth a try. If it doesn't work, I can always put something else on the MicroSD.

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I have a Raspberry Pi-4 that I got about a year and a half ago. It was 32-bit. I installed Astroberry which included several packages including KStars, CCDCiel, HNSKY and maybe others. This, of course, was the 32-bit Ras[bian OS. My astronomical equipment was somewhat below par for what I was trying to do, and I gave up on it. Recently, I purchased a Celestron-AVX (8"), and an ASI 533 and ASI-EAF, as I want to be autofocusing, something not well supported on my previous gear. I figure that this would be a good time to upgrade to a 64-bit OS. There is a bewildering array of advice on this topic available, not all current, and certainly not authoritative. I plan to buy a new Micro-SB card and start from scratch with the new OS, keeping the old one in reserve.

I'd appreciate advice on which installation path to pursue;, as of 2023.

Thank you.

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I press "Quote" when I wish to reply to a quote. All the quote html verbiage appears when I am typing the reply, but the quoted message is missing when the reply is posted. I've only noticed it in the last two days or so. Is there a change or bug in the site software causing this, or something else. A setting perhaps?

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Thank you, Markku (and also Alan). I didn't really think this was a bug but it remains true that the CCDCiel program somehow knows to invert the image to right side up, or maybe it's just dumb luck. Perhaps it knows something about the telescope being used and makes the adjustment. Is this a feature worth asking for? For now, I can just invert the camera, I suppose. Now I have to worry about focus which was my original purpose in starting this thread.

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Alan:

I feel fairly certain that you are wrong about the inverting being due to the telescope optics.

The reason I can say this is that, with nothing changed about the scope, its focus and what it is pointing at, with the camera in and connected to my Rasberry Pi, I can take a preview with the program CCDCiel and the mountain is shown right-side up. Then, I exit CCDCiel and start EKos and do a preview. The mountain is shown upside-down. This tells me that there is either a bug in EKos, or, much more likely, a setting in EKos that I don't know about which is inverting the image. I would like to know what that setting might be. Or possibly, CCDCiel is automatically inverting the image to make it right-side up, and EKos is not.

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I feel fairly certain that you are wrong about this part. The reason I can say this is that, with nothing changed about the scope, its focus and what it is pointing at, with the camera in and connected to my Rasberry Pi, I can take a preview with the program CCDCiel and the mountain is shown right-side up. Then, I exit CCDCiel and start EKos and do a preview. The mountain is shown upside-down. This tells me that there is either a bug in EKos, or, much more likely, a setting in EKos that I don't know about which is inverting the image. I would like to know what that setting might be. Or possibly, CCDCiel is inverting the image to make it right-side up, and EKos is not.

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Thanks agiain, Juergen.

What do you mean by tracking? If the scope is aligned you can make it go to any visible target the software knows about, and it will stay on that target as it moves. Is that what you mean by tracking?

As for focusing on the donuts, these particular donuts were appearing at irregular intervals on the screen, for maybe five or six previews, moving across the screen each time, which made me think they were airplanes. I could never see any donuts that stayed fixed in location on the screen.

Also, do you know why my mountain picture was flipped upside down? And whether the focus quality of that picture would have been sufficient for alignment?

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In spite of my earlier semi-success with obtaining focus during daylight, at night it's still the same mess.

Leaving this focus untouched, I have pointed the scope vaguely at the direction of Mars. But all I get is this grainy indistinguishable mess. Tried playing with gain and exposure settings but to no avail. Every once in awhile I do so see some poorly focused "donut" crossing this screen indicating a poorly focused object but it moves quickly across the preview loop before I have a chance to try and focus it better. I can only surmise it represents an airplane. How do I finish focusing the scope at night and for what exposure?

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Okay, time to fess up that I really don't understand any of this. I've been getting by without understanding fully what I am doing.
When I point my browser to astroberry.local/desktop, this brings up a web page that identifies itself as "astroberry - noVNC". What's with this "noVNC"? I've newer understood what that meant. It looks and feels like it IS VNC i.e. a "remote console" . If it isn't VNC then what is it?

How would this setup you are recommending work? And how does it differ from my current setup? It sounds as though it would do what I want. Basically, that's keeping all the files generated on my laptop, not my Pi.

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Thanks! Progress has been made!