FreeInk: Open ecosystem for e-readers
265 points - today at 6:39 PM
SourceI got an Xteink X4 a few weeks ago and love it. I've tried out a few different firmwares but haven't settled on one yet. I love the screen and how simple the interface is. It's kind of a pain in the butt getting my Kindle books on there, but worth the effort. It's also encouraging me to buy books outside of the Amazon ecosystem. I've been getting more stuff from Humble lately.
Rebelgecko
today at 9:35 PM
Is there a non-annoying way to get Libby books onto it? It's a step or two with a Kindle, but it would be cool to have them on a more portable device
timw4mail
today at 8:12 PM
My favorite at this point is Witch reader (https://github.com/jpirnay/witchhunt-reader). All the features of Cross-point, with better book rendering, and more features. I've tried a lot of the various alternatives, and keep coming back.
If you want all your book series displayed together, AALU (https://github.com/dawsonfi/aalu) might be worth a look.
And Crosspoint OS itself is still really nice.
mootdentures
today at 7:08 PM
I also got one a few weeks ago! I love how pocketable it is.
I tried different firmwares too and ended up settling on CrossPoint. So far it's been the most stable and the UI feels more intuitive than the others (for me at least)
Did you try FreeInk? I was debating which (between CrossPoint and this) to flash my new X3 with.
from what i understand this is CrossPoint.
monocularvision
today at 8:05 PM
I searched for each of the supported eInk devices and they were all tiny. Anyone know if there is a larger reader (maybe Paperwhite size-ish) that might run this?
mikepurvis
today at 8:42 PM
I've never heard of any of them; I guess it's geared toward build-it-yourself or kit-type devices? I can't imagine a serious aftermarket FW not supporting a single Kindle or Kobo device.
ESP32-S3 is really too underpowered for larger e-ink devices.
A Kobo ereader is as open as I need it with koreader installed. The Kobo Libra 2 black and white is the best ereader I have ever had. (not the color version,,unfortunately a step back in reading quality for normal reading)
These are not competing with Kobo. These are micro-ereaders, often much smaller than a phone. They're characterized by extremely weak processors and minimal hardware. 'Apps' are not a concept here yet.
remarkable / remarkable2 also work with KOReader. KOReader provides a very good ereader experience - can import dictionaries, export word lists (ie it tracks words you look up), and supports numerous ebook formats and lets you modify the padding/margins/layout. A very good piece of open source software
It is very good except the UI could really use some love IMO. I use it on all my kindles but it really took some doing to get there in terms of getting comfortable with using it.
Are there any instances from the closed e-book system (kindle, nook, etc..) where you paid for a book and the book was either updated to a revised version or just removed from the device because of the content in the book?
simcop2387
today at 8:10 PM
Yep, first instance I know of was from back in 2009, https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2009/jul/17/amazon-ki... and the kind of thing keeps happening over the years. It'll continue to happen since you aren't paying for a book. You're paying for a license to read the book for as long as the publisher/owner allows you to do so and they can revoke the permission at any time.
I still find it hilariously ironic that the first instance that was widely reported (as far as I know) was it happening to 1984.
recursivegirth
today at 9:21 PM
Pay respect to Aaron Swartz, and go download whatever you need. I hear Anna's got an archive, or there is some Z Lib somewhere. If buying isn't ownership, downloading isn't stealing.
Kindle regularly removes sideloaded books if it decides you didn't purchase them from Amazon. Allegedly it's due to an incompatibility between the Kindle DRM and the way Calibre tricks the Kindle into displaying book covers for sideloaded files, but it's still annoying. The solution is to leave the device in airplane mode.
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=340936
Are there any serious legislative efforts to fix the ebook market? I know getting rid of DRM entirely isn't likely to happen, but at this point I'd be happy with just vendor-neutral DRM.
the_gastropod
today at 8:09 PM
There was that famous 2009 case of Amazon remote deleting George Orwell's 1984 and Animal Farm from Kindles.
Lots of the comments here are about porting to older kindles or eReaders, but the firmware is currently for the ESP32 chipset which none of these use.
idle_zealot
today at 7:38 PM
I got an Xteink X 4 a few weeks ago and it's a very cute device. While I'm a fan of the hardware what's been really fun is noodling around with building some custom firmware and sync architecture to optimize content for the device's extremely limited CPU and Memory. That's meant a custom format for images and metadata that match the device's hardware and interface needs and an automatic ingest pipeline for building these files from common book/comic formats. Maybe some day I'll even read a book on the thing!
It saddens me that most of the ebook world is leaning towards smaller screen sizes.
My reader is 8", and I think that's just the right size. I like a decent sized font, and I don't like continually scrolling.
Surprisingly, the original promise of "low battery use" isn't panning out. My ereader's battery doesn't last that long, although I can live with it. Once you switch to large size color eink screens, the battery life is poorer than tablets!
smith7018
today at 8:30 PM
> most of the ebook world is leaning towards smaller screen sizes
These are seriously niche devices. They're currently trendy but the Kindles of the world probably have something like 98% of the market.
Yes, but except for the Scribe, even the Kindle readers are too small!
Kobo had an 8" ereader. People loved it (except for the battery life). But there's no sign they'll make more of them.
embedding-shape
today at 7:56 PM
> most of the ebook world is leaning towards smaller screen sizes
Meanwhile, the smartphone world suffer from a lack of smaller screen sizes. Maybe we should just mandate the executives to switch industries with each other for a decade or so?
Which reader do you have? I've been looking everywhere I can think of for a good 8-inch device, but I need it to run Android. Heck, I even tried looking into tablets with traditional screens and am having trouble turning up anything serviceable.
I have a 6" screen and it's too small. I got a 10.3" one and it was too large. But I'm starting to suspect those of us who primarily want to read are the only ones who want 8 inches, and we're a rare bread.
Kobo Forma. Probably not easy to run Android on it.
WillAdams
today at 7:57 PM
I rather liked my Sony PRS-505 and 600 for their 6.1" screen and that it would fit in a (large) shirtpocket.
My Kindle Paperwhite and Scribe Coloursoft go weeks between charges.
Yes, I too had a Sony ereader for years, and it was nice fitting it in my jacket pocket.
But the reality is that most book pages are larger than 6", and if I found myself preferring the book because of the size, what's the point of an ereader? I first switched to 7", which was better, but not good enough. 8" is great, though.
> Scribe Coloursoft go weeks between charges
How many hours will the battery last while on? And how does that compare to a similar sized tablet?
The Remarkable tablets are pretty big and have a large community.
Fair point.
I was looking into them recently, and can't recall why I ruled them out.
I think it may have been because of the size of their color tablets - either too small or too large.
I really like my Boox e-reader because I can install any android app on it. I run Storyteller on it and it syncs position to my storyteller server. So i can listen to the audiobook on my iPhone and then pick up reading on my Boox from where I was listening.
Please port this OS to older Kindles that Amazon no longer supports.
KennyBlanken
today at 7:50 PM
Or Kobo, given how shit the stock firmware is and how little the hardware has changed over a considerable period of time. Should be easy-peasy.
themadturk
today at 8:16 PM
Nickel, the stock firmware on Kobo, is pretty decent. KOReader is better, though. The Kobo is a pretty hackable device. I pair my Kobo Clara BW with BookFusion, which gives me portability between any KOReader device, Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android.
You can already easily install koreader on the Kobo. You can even combine it with Tailscale to get your local opds server
Krutonium
today at 6:55 PM
Huh, this would be a fantastic option for my Kobo Touch. It freely flashes whatever firmware you give it, and it'll boot from an SD Card besides.
Perfect -- this is exactly the kind of project I was hoping to see gain some traction as of late.
I've used CrossPoint on X4. I'm not sure how this is related (CrossPoint is linked in the footer)
From my understanding this is the next iteration of OpenX4 E-Paper Community SDK - an sdk made by some of the core contributors of CrossPoint that abstracts the hardware of eink devices.
Huge props to the devs, that haven't just embraced people forking their repo - but have actually put in a lot effort to make it easier for anyone that wants to develop on these platforms.
VonGallifrey
today at 8:08 PM
It reads to me like FreeInk is the e-book reader and e-Paper SDK, and CrossPoint is the firmware that uses FreeInk.
I currently use CrossPoint, so I wanted to install this, but when I clicked the GitHub button, it just linked to the CrossPoint Firmware.
I want this but for ePaper tablets like Remarkable.
I had a similar thought but thinking it through, would probably lose the near-zero-lag stylus stuff. That's kinda rM's whole thing, not ebook reading.
Does this can be installed kindle, like for very old versions?
shevy-java
today at 8:34 PM
Better than giving my money to Apple for sure.
Mr_Eri_Atlov
today at 7:02 PM
Interesting to see XTEINK here; hopefully it means they will be more open to community software initiatives.
jagged-chisel
today at 7:33 PM
What are the limitations with
XTEINK currently? I have an X3 and an X4 and both simply use whatever firmware you give them.
lachiflippi
today at 7:59 PM
They disabled the ability to USB flash on every device not bought from their official store.
jagged-chisel
today at 9:13 PM
How big of a problem is this? I did get my X4 from somewhere else, but I was still able to change firmware. I think it just adds a hurdle to make it less trivial for unscrupulous resellers to install crapware.
lachiflippi
today at 9:28 PM
It used to be more of a problem back when not every popular firmware had a way to reflash from SD/via OTA, because you could get stuck on a firmware with no way to flash out of it. The current solutions work pretty well, though I still stay far away from non-stable releases, just in case.
Is that true? I heard for the X3 the pogo pin cable they ship has 2 pins not 4 but you can buy one and it will transfer data and let you flash custom firmware.
lachiflippi
today at 8:26 PM
I own both an "old" X4 as well as a "new"/"domestic"/locked X3. The pogo cable transfers data, and the device shows up in dmesg when connected, but disappears shortly after. The cable itself works fine for transferring data, tested with a different device with the same connector.
i think i remember seeing an unlockable bootloader on the remarkable?
xteink seems to be everywhere these days. Did it really "kill doomscrolling" for anyone?
It has certainly made it easier for me to put down my phone in bed and read something else. So, doomscrolling is gone for that part of my day.
The biggest win is not caring if I get the reader back on the charger before I drift off, which is a thing I need to do with my phone.
Maybe, but I feel like those are all just overwhelming trend/clickbait nonsense videos/articles. E-readers are awesome, but I bet the amount of people that have truly replaced their social media habits with ebooks out of nowhere is near zero.
Also, for anyone that wants to cut doom scrolling, just delete your accounts and delete the apps for the services you're not using in a way you like. In many cases, it's that simple.
Love e-readers though. I've carried one with me (when I had a reason to expect at least 30 minutes of downtime) for a few years now and it's a lot more convenient than the paperbacks I used to lug around.
it is pretty fun I was surprised. It's just nice it's so pocketable. I thought it'd be too small but I turn the font up so I am constantly flipping and I don't seem to notice. The page flips are fast
But also, I didn't understand how much the lightness is amazing. A kindle is light and one handable but it's noticable, this is so light I just can hold it up. I've heard in the ultralight mouse (for gaming), there's a point you just feel like you're moving your hand and don't notice the mouse. This is how I feel for this and it's worth something
danteocualesjr
today at 8:26 PM
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today at 6:56 PM
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