I sympathize with your frustration - the learning curve for linux/kstars/ekos/indi is just as steep as the learning curve for much of the things we attempt to do in AP, but from what I have read, taking the 'Windows system' approach would be equally fraught - I read on other forums the difficulties that others have in piecing together a Windows-based NUC with many hardware and software issues.
We Astroberry users all start from the basis of one hardware platform, these days mounted on the Raspbian linux distribution which is in massively used and professionally supported, with the Astroberry collection of open source softwares as the icing on the cake.
You are right that there are missing features of KStars/Ekos/indi such as you mention 'no USB/DSUSB long exposure control, no dual camera sync for dithering/guiding'. I don't know what these are and if your setup needs them then there is no instant fix. You would have to submit some requests for new features to be added to the Indi forum and hopefully some of the excellent voluntary development team would see the benefit of adding to the Indi arsenal.
You mention technical issues of connecting 'the moment I try to connect to astroberry from outside network it collapses'. It's just possible that this may be due to some interference that other users have been reporting between the USB3.0 functions and the 2.4GHz WiFi channels of the RPi. I personally set up the Astroberry hotspot to prioritize the 5GHz bands.
Overall I am amazed at how well Astroberry on the RPi4 functions, how reliable it is, and I am enjoying advancing slowly on my AP journey with its help (and the posts on this forum and elsewhere)!

Thanks guys.

I have been an amateur astronomer for about 12 years now, 10 of which I am doing astrophotography. I have learned a lot in it, worked with a number of equipment, paid my "learning" money, had my frustrations... the learning curve as pointed out above. I realized that taking a step to new system is going to be big one and not easy, but migrating over to Linux is like starting everything from scratch. It feels like 10 years out the window.
In order to troubleshoot linux one needs to learn at least the basics of its coding language. That is not the case with windows. Furthermore, you have to be inclined to want to learn that language, at the age close to 40 not one part of my brain wants to do that. If it'd take some hours I would but this thing will eat up years, which I will not give to this project no ways. I am not trying to say windows is better I know it isn't, but it is user friendly. It's like buying a car that is specifically built for mechanics or one that is built for the regular people. I would bet money that the one built for the regular Joe will sell much much more.
Is there any way to implement an USB long exposure control with Astroberry based on the FTDI chipset? This is what I mean www.cloudynights.com/topic/457536-usb-co...r-control-for-nikon/

Ihoujin, thanks for the advice. I guess I'll look into Astro Pi 3 sometimes. But as you mentioned it is a script, so I kind of have an idea that it is not a simple click and go set up as well. And it is risky now, cause if that doesn't work either... well lets just say that the hammer is already out of the tool box

If you feel like you need better support, purchasing the software image of Stellarmate might be a better way to go. Unless you need some specific piece of software other than EKOS, this is the way I chose to go. There is support offered through the Stellarmate site since it's a pay piece of software. There is a dashboard that allows you to see everything going on with the Pi, and you can choose to image on the Pi, or remotely on your desktop through your home network. I've not had to use any code to configure anything. But, just a thought for some option to explore.

I have looked into Stellarmate. Checked out a number of youtube vids too. It is almost exactly the same as Astroberry. Ekos/Indi just the same which turns out to be pretty buggy for me. I have not checked if they are capable of synced dithering, I'll look into that.

What is the application out there that does synched guiding and dithering?

For windows I have done it with APT, but I heard you can do it with SGP and BYN as well.

There would be no difference in terms of features within EKOS by switching to StellarMate. But just thought you might encounter less issues from a setup and configuration standpoint.

After reading through the CN post, I have to ask if you have one of those Nikon DSLR models where 'BULB' mode cannot be controlled by USB interface? Seems kinda like jumping through a hoop to get a long exposure image, lots of soldering, transistors, diodes... Gonna be honest, how can a community of volunteers write code to make a device do long exposure if you have to go through that serious amount of a work to make a Nikon take long exposure?

I understand your frustration, trust me the learning curve is steep but the sense of accomplishment when you finally make that transition is priceless. I must say age should not be a factor as I am 57 and figured it out, yeah I cussed a LOT and READ a lot but it finally clicked.

These people on this forum are helpful. I may not ask or post a lot but I read a lot. Every thing I have had issues with, someone else had it long before and just reading those resolved posts has lead me to the light

indilib.org/forum/ccds-dslrs/5047-kmtron...e.html?start=0#37912

indilib.org/devices/cameras/gphoto.html

Section in here about shoestring astronomy and GPhoto use with DSLR;

"When using external shutter release cable, you must use the GPhoto generic driver and not a camera-specific driver (e.g. Nikon) as only the GPhoto generic driver would work with external shutter release cables. Additionaly, users may employ DSUSB/DSUSB2 from Shoestring Astronomy in order to control the shutter. Before you connect, the port field must be set to DSUSB."

I have never meant to offend anyone here or any of the developers I've made that clear in my first post in this thread. I have a beef with Linux/Indi/Ekos as they seem to work rather erratic then organized, and I've heard poems about the reliability and simplicity of Linux in general. Absolutely contradicting with my experience.

For example, take the link you provided: indilib.org/forum/ccds-dslrs/5047-kmtron...e.html?start=0#37912 I have searched and searched before started this thread and came across this one. There are several little problems with that thread.
1. The op makes it clear he has no serious Linux computing background
2. Dispite this fact there is virtually no real help in that thread, as people just say things out of the box like "Gphoto driver" and "dmesg". Let me translate that to English for people who are not software developers or engineers... ??????? That is what those things mean to me and the forum, not just this one, is filled with "information" like this. Again, have nothing against people here, just trying to shed lights on this from a perspective of a regular Joe.
3. Knowing now that update, upgrade and install in linux does not work like in windows (download installer, install etc), I am sure there is a "sudo apt, sudo update, sudo upgrade" command somewhere in that thread. It is just lust in the process of assuming that everyone is versed in programming language.

If you'd be so kind and educate me please what all those mean, how do I check if the FTDI USB created a /dev/ttyUSBX entry under astroberry/Indi/Ekos, and how do I update Gphoto driver and how to check if I even have to, I'd really appreciate it.

And BTW, I have the same issue that the very last post by CedrictheBrave says there. I guess he did not understand the thread as well.

And one more thing. I had figures out how to connect and VNC into my Astroberry Pi via internet. I had to have a very good friend of mine helping me out from overseas, yeah from another continent.
And in summary the solution, and organized solution could have been listed to me in four very short line. Something along the lines like this:

Regular Joe, Google the followings:
- How to set static IP to your Pi
- Set up port forwarding
- Use whatismyip.org

I could not find anything like that on anywhere. Solution so simple...