FreeInk: Open ecosystem for e-readers

by FriedPickles • 1 day ago

692 156 1 day ago

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.

Mr_Eri_Atlov• 1 day ago

Interesting to see XTEINK here; hopefully it means they will be more open to community software initiatives.

jagged-chisel2• 1 day ago

What are the limitations with XTEINK currently? I have an X3 and an X4 and both simply use whatever firmware you give them.

lachiflippi3• 1 day ago

They disabled the ability to USB flash on every device not bought from their official store.

imzadi6• 1 day ago

I 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.

mootdentures2• 1 day ago

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)

fastball2• 1 day ago

Did you try FreeInk? I was debating which (between CrossPoint and this) to flash my new X3 with.

timw4mail3• 1 day ago

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.

exhumet• 9 hours ago

any that support custom fonts without jumping through hoops? none of them support atkinson hyperlegible for my adhd ass lol

Rebelgecko• 1 day ago

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

timw4mail3• 21 hours ago

I have not seen any support on the mini readers.

imzadi6• 9 hours ago

No. You would have to get it onto your kindle and then break DRM. I personally wouldn't go that far, since the library is paying for it and not me. I feel like if I pay for something, I have the right to back it up how I see fit, whether the law agrees or not, but if I didn't pay for it, it is not mine.

colordrops• 1 day ago

How do you get your kindle books on it?

Brian_K_White2• 22 hours ago

Same way you get your ios apps on it.

jerojero2• 21 hours ago

you'd have to take the DRM out of the books, convert them to epubs and then transfer them.

its an involved process but that's always going to be that way on any e-reader that's not a kindle (or android based, where you can install the kindle app).

imzadi6• 9 hours ago

Look into Calibre.

andrewmutz2• 23 hours ago

Is the only way to use it to break the DRM? I wish there was a path to being able to use all these devices with kindle ebooks legally

jwrallie• 22 hours ago

You need Android in that case, but that defeats the simplicity of these devices.

Brian_K_White2• 21 hours ago

What are you suggesting exactly? That the maker of this hardware should do whatever it takes so that there is some official Kindle app like on Android?

I want to access my books on random devices too, which is why I never bought a frikkn Kindle book.

I did buy a bunch of Audible books, starting way back when there was nothing else, and I knew the deal when buying, so I simply went through the grief on my end to strip them (easy these days) and don't care about the legality (or rather, am willing to fight and defend the legality).

But buying something from Amazon and then complaining to anyone but Amazon that you want something Amazon doesn't provide or even allow, I don't get that.

This wish for this thing that you want should be directed at Amazon, and if you recognize that that would be pointless, well, correct, that's why you shouldn't buy a book from Amazon in the first place.

Or you should decide you don't recognize any legal conflict and help write software to uncrappify your property.

wwweston• 21 hours ago

If you’re not redistributing ebooks you bought, it’s hard to imagine what legal claim someone could make against you, and even harder to establish the ethics of that claim.

To say nothing of Amazon’s ethics.

agnishom• 20 hours ago

Some publishers such as Tor will occasionally publish DRM free ebooks.

I have very little respect for DRM, though. Personally, if the author has a patreon, I suggest donating the $20 to the Patreon and pirating the book

crossroadsguy• 17 hours ago

Love the idea and goal being all this but what an interesting time to be in. Phones are becoming bigger and bigger while the palm, neck, eye, head, etc sizes haven't really buzzed. Digital book readers are getting smaller and smaller while the book sizes… argh… I give up. It's pointless to try and make sense of digital/device trends at this point, or any modern trend for that matter.

kokada2• 11 hours ago

Digital book readers are getting smaller and smaller

I am not sure this is true. Yes, Xteink is investing in small eReader devices to fill a particular niche, but I am not sure any other company also creating small eReaders, and especially from the big known names like Kindle/Kobo/PocketBook the minimum size they generally have is around 6'' to 7''. Also nowadays we have a big market for Note-style eInk devices, like the Kindle Scrible or Remarkable that fills the niche of "I want a really big eInk device".

nehal3m• 10 hours ago

Seems cool, ordered one. I like my Kobo but the ability to shove it in a pocket seems sweet.

stevesimmons2• 8 hours ago

I got an Xteink X4 a month ago. It's perfect: none of the distractions of a phone, battery life measured in weeks, small enough to carry everywhere, cheap enough that I don't worry about anything happening to it.

So far I have only read one book on it. But that is Tolstoy's "War and Peace" (361 chapters, 1300 pages in paper editions), which I'd never managed to read more than a few tens of pages of before.

Which is pretty solid proof of how nice the X4 is.

Eueudhsbsj32• 7 hours ago

The newly announced pro version with a front light looks prerfect for me.

Do you use it with a dictionary? I like the full 1 GB English wiktionary loaded in Aard2 on my Boox. It has etymology and can look up Latin and other non-English words. But I imagine it may be too heavy for a ESP32 device..

imzadi6• 7 hours ago

Some of the firmwares have dictionaries, but I don't use it myself.

andersmmg• 3 hours ago

The new X4P would be great if it wasn't for the touch screen. I just want an X4 with a frontlight, no other changes. I like the front buttons!

insane_dreamer• 7 hours ago

can you use Calibre to put files on it?

theshrike792• 53 minutes ago

Yes, but there are better ways depending on the firmware.

kapsteur• 1 day ago

Please port this OS to older Kindles that Amazon no longer supports.

joshuakelleyds• 1 day ago

Winterbreak covers most of them >2012, https://kindlemodding.org/kindle-models.html

KennyBlanken• 1 day ago

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• 1 day ago

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.

Larrikin• 1 day ago

You can already easily install koreader on the Kobo. You can even combine it with Tailscale to get your local opds server

fudged71• 1 day ago

I've used CrossPoint on X4. I'm not sure how this is related (CrossPoint is linked in the footer)

VonGallifrey• 1 day ago

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.

foopod• 1 day ago

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.

idle_zealot• 1 day ago

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!

BeetleB7• 1 day ago

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!

embedding-shape• 1 day ago

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?

WillAdams4• 1 day ago

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.

smith7018• 1 day ago

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.

smeej2• 1 day ago

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.

IshKebab4• 1 day ago

The Remarkable tablets are pretty big and have a large community.

Kehvarl• 23 hours ago

I have a few e-ink based readers, and I just picked up an x4. Honestly, it's kind of fun. It fits in my pocket with my phone, it has clear and readable text, it has fairly comfortable buttons. Will it ever be my sole e-reader? Nope. Do I see myself continuing to use it to grab a book from the Project Gutenberg OPDS feed, to read whenever I'm in decent light and not doing something? Sure.

dominotw• 1 day ago

xteink seems to be everywhere these days. Did it really "kill doomscrolling" for anyone?

loremm• 1 day ago

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

jjice2• 1 day ago

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.

tapvt• 1 day ago

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.

kstrauser3• 7 hours ago

It did for me. I put it in my jeans pocket when I head out the door in the morning: grab backpack, phone in one pocket, reader in other. Then I actually read books in my queue to and from work. It’s the similar routine as grabbing my keys as I head out.

mahimai• 1 day ago

Does this can be installed kindle, like for very old versions?

t1234s• 1 day ago

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?

jjice2• 1 day ago

Yep. The infamous case in my mind were the Roald Dahl updates. I believe there were a few more cases that got news coverage a few years back, but I don't recall, so don't quote me.

https://goodereader.com/blog/electronic-readers/ronald-dahl-...

the_gastropod• 1 day ago

There was that famous 2009 case of Amazon remote deleting George Orwell's 1984 and Animal Farm from Kindles.

simcop2387• 1 day ago

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• 1 day ago

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.

criddell2• 1 day ago

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.

tren• 21 hours ago

We're using LCP from EDRLab which is an open standard. Other vendors are starting to adopt it and I think Kobo intend to this year too. Basically the LCPL files you download can be opened on any compatible LCP reader.

ebiester• 1 day ago

It's fairly rare - like when 1984 was deleted from amazon when the seller didn't have the rights (and customer was refunded), but https://www.theguardian.com/money/2012/oct/22/amazon-wipes-c... shows an example where someone's account was deleted and they lost all licenses of books they bought.

pnw• 1 day ago

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

qingcharles• 22 hours ago

It also strips off all the covers from your sideloaded books if you give it Internet access. Mine's had the radio off since I got it, for this reason.

WillAdams4• 9 hours ago

Sort of.

- I've often bought books with old/traditional covers which I like, but then a movie is made and the cover is "updated" to the movie tie-in version

- I've found at least one typo in pretty much every e-book I've ever read, and usually report them --- they rarely get fixed, which annoys me to no end (esp. if it's a copy were there cover has changed as noted above)

There's also the old news story about the kid who bought the pirated copy of _1984_ took class notes in it, and then had the copy deleted, which presumably is why when Microsoft took the ebook reader functionality out of Edge they issued checks to people who had used the note-taking functionality.

monocularvision• 1 day ago

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?

chb• 1 day ago

The "Hardware" link indicates that the BoM specifies a "24-pin SPI e-paper for GoodDisplay panels (3.97″, 4.26″, 7.5″ and up)." A search turns up this: https://www.good-display.com/product/516.html

mikepurvis2• 1 day ago

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.

poulpy123• 1 day ago

Ask amazon and Kobo to open their system if it's so important for you. The devs have probably more interesting things to do than playing wack-a-mole with a multi-billion organisation

IshKebab4• 1 day ago

ESP32-S3 is really too underpowered for larger e-ink devices.

Varelion• 1 day ago

Perfect -- this is exactly the kind of project I was hoping to see gain some traction as of late.

Ritewut• 1 day ago

I want this but for ePaper tablets like Remarkable.

Andrex• 1 day ago

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.

IshKebab4• 1 day ago

This is for epaper tablets, just tiny ones.

Remarkable looks like it has a pretty active hacking community: https://github.com/rehackable/awesome-remarkable#launchers

a-dub• 1 day ago

i think i remember seeing an unlockable bootloader on the remarkable?

wernerb• 1 day ago

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)

mholm• 1 day ago

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.

theshrike792• 51 minutes ago

Kobo doesn't have apps either.

They don't compete, but do complement. Both are very open and hackable, so you can use the same process to get books on both.

renlo• 1 day ago

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

wolvoleo• 1 day ago

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.

dugite-code• 23 hours ago

Even without koreader a kobo is refreshingly open to tinkering. Getting root and ssh access is just a matter of renaming a file on the disk.

I got the colour after being on an old paperwhite for many years so thankfully it's a big step up for me.

hart_russell• 22 hours ago

I’m scared of installing koreader on my kobo. Right now my kobo syncs to my calibre web server seamlessly. Does koreader have the ability to sync your library to a calibre web instance?

Wolfbeta• 22 hours ago

Yes, if you upgrade to Calibre-Web-Automated https://github.com/crocodilestick/Calibre-Web-Automated#kore...

pooploop64• 17 hours ago

On mine, koreader is an app that you launch, and the stock interface seems to unload completely until you exit koreader. Then the whole "OS" is still there untouched and you can get books from hell dimensions like Overdrive. Despite never using the stock interface anymore I've left it alone because it's not much of a bother to relaunch koreader or Plato on the rare occasions that I have to.

solarkraft2• 6 hours ago

Yes. You can also do it outside of it just fine.

fedeb95• 14 hours ago

this is about open hardware.

You really don't need to build a Kobo clone. By being open, you can fit your needs. If your needs are already covered by Kobo, that's fine.

boznz• 1 day ago

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.

shevy-java• 1 day ago

Better than giving my money to Apple for sure.

tcoff912• 1 day ago

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.

mattm• 1 day ago

I also really like Boox. I'm on my 2nd Boox product now having upgraded from my old Max Lumi so that I could get colours.

robbiet480• 1 day ago

I've always wanted something like Storyteller for non-Amazon devices. Thanks!

jerojero2• 21 hours ago

I find the battery life on boox tablets to be pretty poor. At least with my usage.

Its kind of annoying to have to be charging every other day.

I think I've only had to charge the xteink x4 a couple times since I got it in March. But that's the case for any non-android ereader.

I'd be happy if the boox lasted a week with 2-3ish hours of use a day.

tcoff912• 19 hours ago

I think it’s possible to use koreader and sync to storyteller with a plugin on that xteink but I’ve never set anything like that up.

scratchyone• 19 hours ago

I contribute to Storyteller in my free time and I absolutely love using my Boox with it, honestly my dream reading setup.

gausswho• 23 hours ago

Regard the Supported Devices table, where the last column declares all devices Full (in red). Firmware too chonky for any of them! Oh Claude.

something98• 22 hours ago

Running Zotero (directly) is the big requirement for my next e-reader. Yeah, I can sync pdfs from my library with webdav or something else. But I want the full Zotero interface.

easterncalculus• 22 hours ago

Wasn't the efficacy of the focus/bionic reading stuff disproven awhile back? Are people still using it?

Simboo• 22 hours ago

Please add Gallery to your page :)

replatformradar• 21 hours ago

This is already dangerously cool. The second they add Kindle support, Free Ink is going from niche open-source project to “why is GitHub on fire?” territory.

mkozlows2• 20 hours ago

The point of this seems to be building on open hardware. If you want open source software that builds on proprietary hardware, KOReader is what you want. (I use it, it's great.)

stevage2• 21 hours ago

Are there any off the shelf e-readers which support this firmware? This site seems to be for people who want to solder together their own e-reader from components.

Also, it does a bit misleading to say "Charging, battery protection, an optional frontlight and a 24-pin e-paper interface, all on one PCB you can build for around $60." According to their own parts lists, if you are build 5 of these, you're in for $63.74 (plus shipping?) So if you want just one (like a normal person), it's going to cost more. And that's still just the circuit board and components: no mention of the outer plastic casing. (I can't find any info on their site about how to get that - presumably 3D print, but haven't found plans.)

inflam52• 19 hours ago

Xteink ereaders do (available on Amazon) but just make sure to get the “developer edition” and you can flash the hardware.

stevage2• 17 hours ago

Hmm, I can't see any. Just cases. Maybe they don't ship to Australia.

JimmyBiscuit• 13 hours ago

If you have an X4 non-developer version you can still flash crosspoint (idk about the one from OP) via the sd card method, its described on the crosspoint website.

sen• 13 hours ago

They do ship directly to AU: https://www.xteink.com/

I way prefer ePaper over reading on my phone so I have both the x3 and the x4 and love both.

The x3 is so small it sticks to my phone via the charging magnet on the back so it goes everywhere my phone does.

The x4 is a bit bigger so a bit more readable but still smaller than an iPhone, so it’s easy to keep in your pocket or bag.

alias_neo• 12 hours ago

I have the X4 and it fits on the back of my Pixel 9 Pro XL.

EDIT: I use a "MagSafe" case.

meghprkh• 21 hours ago

I would like such a project in Rust! There a bunch of embassy-based firmwares but none have the UX of the crosspoint forks yet. My favourite is inx (https://github.com/obijuankenobiii/inx) which is the only one that supports annotations afaik. It does crash sometimes though

rayzia• 18 hours ago

An open ecosystem for e-readers is such a refreshing concept. Tired of being locked into proprietary reading ecosystems, so seeing projects push for interoperability and open standards on e-ink devices is fantastic.

joshstrange• 8 hours ago

KOReader support (not just KOReader sync) has become my new line in the sand for an e-reader. I'm currently using my jailbroken Kindle PW5 and loving it.

KOReader paired with BookOrbit is my sweetspot and I love having all the data under my control. If my Kindle died today I'd probably grab a Kobo and put KOReader on it.

This project is very interesting to me but they seem to want to "own" the whole software stack, it seems like it won't support things like KOReader? Or am I mistaken?

bunderbunder• 7 hours ago

Pretty sure all we’re waiting on is someone to put in the effort to port KOReader to the platform.

vzaliva• 7 hours ago

The missing integration point is reading progress. The killer feature (for me) of Kindle is that I can have several devices and continue reading on any of them with my position in the book synced. I want that across different readers.

For example, if I buy now Xtelink X4 for reading ‘on the go’, there is no easy way to switch back to a larger device for more comfortable reading at home.

bArray• 6 hours ago

Just ordered myself the LilyGo T5 E-Paper S3 Pro [1]. The other good options on the hardware tab are sold out [2]. I quite like the idea of having GPS capability, and maybe I can experiment with LoRa gateways. I originally missed out on the M5 Paper and have been looking for an entry since.

My plan is to not use this firmware and use MicroPython instead (based on a high-level OS I already developed that is extremely low battery consumption). I carry around with me an A6 notebook with TODOs for each day - just the other day I temporarily lost it and realized that I actually need to have a backup for this stuff synced with a private VPS.

[1] https://lilygo.cc/products/t5-e-paper-s3-pro

[2] https://freeink.org/#hardware

solarkraft2• 6 hours ago

Larger screen support coming soon:

Checkpoint 3: Board v2.0 Release (Supporters)
Status: Check in around September 2026!
Expand the platform beyond the original 4.26" display and demonstrate the full capability of the optional module system.
(…) 4.26" (same as initial prototype), 7.5", 3.97"

https://github.com/iandchasse/de-link/blob/main/markdown/ROA...

FreeInk: Open ecosystem for e-readers

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