alt.hn

5/5/2026 at 12:56:16 PM

Community firmware for the Xteink X4 e-paper reader

 https://github.com/crosspoint-reader/crosspoint-reader

by dmos62

5/6/2026 at 11:21:49 PM

Be aware that Xteink is locking down devices sold for the Chinese market (which includes those being sold on e.g. Taobao). If you want to run crosspoint, you should probably order your reader direct from Xteink.

https://liliputing.com/xteink-blocks-installation-of-custom-...

by aidenn0

5/7/2026 at 12:29:06 PM

There's already an OTA unlocker https://crosspointreader.com/#unlock-tool

by dmos62

5/7/2026 at 1:01:14 PM

Whoa that's a surprise. They even call out support for CrossPoint by name, too.

Moreover, it's a bit of a crazy looking hack too, by doing a MITM attack.

I'm curious to see what exactly is the seam between the Xteink brand and its upstream supplier(s).

It's like the brand company was against the firmware lockdown in the first place. It would be neat to better understand the Chinese consumer devices ecosystem.

by rkapsoro

5/7/2026 at 1:58:15 PM

Isn't that because it's the CrossPoint website?

by happymellon

5/7/2026 at 5:55:49 AM

Interesting - I ordered mine from AliExpress in February and it was really easy to flash. Shane if they start blocking it.

by crimsdings

5/7/2026 at 10:22:43 AM

I guess they don't like people buying their product.

by wewewedxfgdf

5/7/2026 at 1:22:47 PM

I bought one yesterday from AliExpress. I hope I'm able to install new firmwares on it.

by silveira

5/7/2026 at 7:55:44 AM

There is a much more advanced fork of this project: https://github.com/jpirnay/crosspoint-reader

In actuality there are several forks, and the original Crosspoint Reader really got the ball rolling, but now seems to get stuck in discussions. The forks (especially the one I linked) has progressed much further and has better KOReader sync (as in actually syncs to the correct XPath position instead of some close-enough position), bionic reading, streamlined UI, etc. Give that one a shot!

by cyxxon

5/7/2026 at 2:09:17 PM

Its not "endless discussion" that's keeping it from improving it's actually a lack of reviewers for the PRs that are already there.

The discussions are pretty sane, but I've seen how once there's a PR that's ready to go and everyone agrees is ready to go it won't be merged because there's not enough people to review the code.

Maybe a lot of people who would be reviewers have decided instead to maintain their own forks. But yeah, the discussion is fine.

by jerojero

5/7/2026 at 11:32:04 AM

Ah I just switched to using https://github.com/uxjulia/crossink-reader

Not sure what KOReader is but the fonts included in this one and the overall reading experience is solid.

by osener

5/7/2026 at 12:24:39 PM

KOReader is the defacto Android ereader app for eink screens, and many consider it the best Android ereader for regular screens too.

by dmos62

5/7/2026 at 1:35:47 PM

Worth mentioning it's not limited to Android! It also runs on Kobos, Kindles, Pocketbooks, etc.

by antonyt

5/7/2026 at 2:53:15 PM

How does it runs in Kindles? Which ones are supported? I'm interested

by kelvinjps10

5/7/2026 at 1:56:39 PM

Ah, didn't know that.

by dmos62

5/7/2026 at 1:17:38 PM

agreed and they support non android devices too!

by krystalgamer

5/8/2026 at 12:54:58 AM

CrossInk is much more popular than this fork AFAICT from the Reddit discussions.

by skrtskrt

5/7/2026 at 1:05:30 AM

For those unfamiliar with these devices I stumbled upon this cool write-up:

https://aftermath.site/xteink-x4-cheap-hackable-ereader-cros...

These things are teeny-tiny.

by tolerance

5/7/2026 at 7:50:45 AM

50-70 dollars? A Kobo Clara is about 100 and has a bigger screen, an adjustable front light and you can easily load DRM free ebooks via USB mass storage or custom firmware like koreader. If you just want to read books you should probably just get a Kobo.

by globular-toast

5/7/2026 at 7:55:52 AM

Yeah, but can you affix a Kobo device to the back of your phone as a signal of your superior taste in how you consume your digital literature?

by tolerance

5/7/2026 at 2:21:52 PM

I have a bunch of e-readers and this X4 is probably my favorite precisely because how small and pocketable it is.

I comfortably fit around half a page of a real paperback book on the screen. Its not the biggest compromise ever and for the size its great.

You know how they say "the best camera is the one you have with you" well the same goes for an ereader. I do have my bigger e-reader but it doesn't fit in my pocket, it fits in my bag and that's believe it or not a big difference.

I also have a more expensive "phone sized" ereader, and its fine. The size is really good and I've read many books in it. The issue is that it feels like carrying two phones, its the size and weight of a modern phone. The X4 is like 80gr. Its significantly smaller.

by jerojero

5/7/2026 at 11:47:45 AM

The Kobo Clara doesn't fit in my pocket while the X4 does. An e-reader that I actually have on-hand beats one that I leave in a drawer at home so it was an instant purchase for me the moment I saw one.

by fallpeak

5/8/2026 at 2:12:40 PM

For me how cheap it is makes it much more comfortable for me to just take it with me whenever I travel. My other e-reader is a Kobo Sage but it is so expensive that I'm way more careful with it. And I feel like the weight is seriously underrated as a selling point. It barely feels like a piece of tech.

by polytely

5/8/2026 at 12:57:20 AM

You could say this about endless devices. Ricoh GR: Why buy this camera that fits in your pocket when a bigger more expensive one with more features that doesn’t fit in your pocket exists?

Well because people like it better!

by skrtskrt

5/7/2026 at 12:12:09 PM

$45 on ali. I've been looking for an affordable open phone-sized e-reader for years, but unfortunately this one doesn't have a backlight which is a hard requirement for me.

(I do have a kobo, it's too big.)

by bityard

5/7/2026 at 4:12:13 PM

yeah but it's way bigger no? you mention the screen size yourself

by throawayonthe

5/6/2026 at 10:11:36 PM

I ordered the Xteink X4 not knowing about CrossPoint and I was so disappointed with the included firmware:

- Almost no formatting on the ebooks you upload (no bold text, missing glyphs, no images/cover art) - The book had to be rendered before being uploaded. I suspect they were uploading series of bitmaps. - This meant if you wanted to change portrait/landscape or change font size/type you had to re-render the book - Bitmap fonts were very ugly.

Overall it was barely workable. More of a proof of concept. The CrossPoint firmware on the other hand:

- Actually renders books as you would expect, in a pleasing manner, formatting and all - Much more reader configuration on device: font settings, margin, spacing, alignment, progress display - Update via USB or OTA - Multiple ways to get your books: Connect to your Calibre library to push or pull books (thanks for introducing me to Calibre!), USB, Wireless file transfer - Sync progress via KOReader

It's the best gift the community could give to the manufacturer. With only the default firmware my X4 would have been in the junk drawer within a week, but now I carry it every day, I've shown it to so many people. It's a marvel. With the news about them attempting to lock it down I can't recommend it anymore. Why would they do that?

by gangstead

5/8/2026 at 12:59:05 AM

Some mixed reports on this, but supposedly they are only putting an (easily-bypassed) firmware on the devices sold to the Chinese domestic market.

by skrtskrt

5/6/2026 at 9:49:43 PM

I'm quite frustrated to hear that Xteink have decided to block firmwware being changed on some devices. I can only imagine the reason would be consumers who look for support after something went wrong but it's frustrating for those of us who just want an open eink device.

by ktallett

5/7/2026 at 1:24:11 AM

I contributed to this a little bit! The copyparty fileserver with opds enabled is a great companion to easily move books to the device.

In the next release I will fix a bug to enable file search for the copyparty opds as well.

by philips

5/7/2026 at 12:01:51 AM

I wish there was a framework style open e-ink device.

by awongh

5/7/2026 at 10:39:04 AM

PINE64 were trying with the PineNote[0], sort of. It's quite a large device (10.3"), in the same size class as reMarkable/Boox devices. It's cost-competitive with those products, but it's way too big and too expensive to compare to traditional ~7" e-readers.

0: https://pine64.org/devices/pinenote/

by MrDOS

5/7/2026 at 8:46:45 AM

Seed studio sells some. reTerminal is the more polished one, it has a metal case, nice buttons, and a 2Ah battery. The Xiao screen is more diy, but also has more potential options

I used a reTerminal as a bedside weather station UI recently, works rather nice

Not exactly reading devices, yes, but they are open hardware

by paradox460

5/7/2026 at 1:07:44 AM

supernote's tablets are designed to have replaceable motherboards/batteries although it's still to be seen whether they will actually be able to support that long-term.

by thylacine222

5/7/2026 at 12:50:06 AM

What would that look like? A first thought would be a controller with storage that would 'dock' into various screen sizes and case molds?

by wrennes

5/7/2026 at 12:59:29 AM

What I mean is like the framework laptop - an open device that you can modify and buy parts for, but is actually well built.

by awongh

5/7/2026 at 7:40:09 AM

Someone already said it, but what about TRMNL? https://trmnl.com/

by nar001

5/7/2026 at 12:59:39 AM

I'd buy that in a second.

by ksclarke

5/9/2026 at 9:33:29 AM

There is a community build for the M5Stack Paper S3, which costs the same but has a touchscreen and a microSD card reader (theoretically limited to 32GB but my 128GB card with my entire eBook collection seems to work fine).

Only drawback, the magnets are not in the right position to piggyback on an iPhone's MagSafe.

by fmajid

5/6/2026 at 11:55:51 PM

I’m running Crosspoint on the X3, and am quite pleased with both the software and hardware. It even supports reading progress via Koreader sync, which I use on my main eInk devices.

by antonyt

5/7/2026 at 1:41:19 PM

Crosspoint and KOReader are fascinating to me.

The lack of consensus on what features are essential in an e-reader must be hard to manage. Surprisingly exotic features sometimes.

- No deal, this e-reader doesn't let me play chess.

- No deal, this e-reader doesn't support bluetooth page-turning.

- No deal, I don't actually look at the screen I use text-to-speech.

by randusername

5/7/2026 at 2:06:28 PM

If you wanna play chess you can use the crosspet fork, it does have a few games.

You're right though, the crosspoint firmware is supposedly exclusively for reading.

by jerojero

5/6/2026 at 10:14:08 PM

Really nice device, I'm just waiting for a version with front light.

by wolvoleo

5/6/2026 at 10:17:46 PM

Front light would make it the perfect device. I use it on the go everywhere now, to limit the distractions inherent with trying to read from my phone. But in bed having to pull out a book light or a headlight is an annoying step that risks disturbing my partner.

by gangstead

5/7/2026 at 12:14:08 AM

I bought the book lights that they sell along with the device and they're perfect for it. They include an adapter so they magnetically attach to the back, or they can clip to the folio.

by nosrepa

5/7/2026 at 10:14:07 AM

Meh I used those with my old Kindle 2nd edition. It had a really nice leather case with a solder slide out light.

But it wasn't nearly as good as the front light ones that came later.

by wolvoleo

5/8/2026 at 5:37:16 PM

Oh it was the 3rd gen actually

by wolvoleo

5/7/2026 at 12:53:25 AM

The S4 is the new version coming soon with a front light.

by asdfqwertzxcv

5/7/2026 at 8:30:16 AM

Ah yes but that one is probably going to be much more expensive as it runs android and more powerful hardware. It won't support crosspoint-reader then either :'( Though you could install KOReader then, which is a good alternative. It also seems to lack page turn buttons.

But I read there's also an "X4 v2 pro" coming with frontlight: https://www.joshualowcock.com/xteink/xteink-x4-v2-pro-xteink...

So I'm waiting to see which one will be the best price/quality in this regard.

by wolvoleo

5/8/2026 at 1:01:47 AM

It would be nice to get a backlight and no touchscreen.

by skrtskrt

5/8/2026 at 3:38:29 PM

That's what I'm hoping for as well

by asdfqwertzxcv

5/7/2026 at 1:55:38 AM

I wonder, how difficult would it be to do something similar for "Onyx Boox Tab X C 13.3" ?

Btw, did Onyx publish sources as required by GPLv3 for that device? AFAIK there are no sources in the open (if I am not mistaken ) and I have no idea what can push them toward publishing them.

by lovelyviking

5/7/2026 at 1:57:42 PM

I love this device and the firmware. It has increased the amount I read now, just because it's convenient to have all the time and use it instead of doom scrolling.

P.S: Shameless plug, I also built an OSS iOS/Android app to help syncing files and clipping web articles/blog and sending to X4 on the go https://crosspointsync.com/

by zabi_rauf

5/7/2026 at 3:39:42 PM

Cool app! Have you considered integrating with Readwise Reader? I would love something like that.

by jhogervorst

5/7/2026 at 10:22:12 AM

I'd like to use this as a multiplayer chess game on the fridge with my dad who lives 100KM away.

Anyone know if there is remote chess for this?

by wewewedxfgdf

5/7/2026 at 12:53:52 AM

Oh this is very cool. I've bought one and plan to use it to show some kind of status around the house.

by arjie

5/7/2026 at 9:30:30 AM

This device would be an instant buy if it were backlit, replacing my kobo mini

by oybng

5/7/2026 at 2:49:19 PM

I wonder if there's a way to get offline Wikipedia on this

by dtm987654123

5/7/2026 at 3:10:09 PM

The X3 and X4 both have an SD card slot, so it's theoretically possible to store it at least. Actually searching and browsing it is another question.

by antonyt