[imzadi]

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.

[timw4mail]

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]

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

[imzadi]

I use an accessible font myself. There are steps to getting the font installed, but you only have to do it once. You basically just download it, convert it, and then upload it to a specific folder. The upload part is the main hassle, because it doesn't attach to the PC like a drive. You have to remove the SD card, open the SD card on the PC or phone and move the font (or book) to the SD card, then put the SD card back into the reader.

[mzd348]

It's much easier to connect the X4 to wifi and then upload fonts via the web interface. Apart from the initial hassle of entering your wifi password using the buttons (only has to be done once).

[timw4mail]

There's a font manager in Crosspoint and Witch, you can download that font directly from the device.

[crossroadsguy]

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.

[kokada]

> 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".

[Rebelgecko]

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

[imzadi]

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.

[timw4mail]

I have not seen any support on the mini readers.

[Infiniti20]

It’s just ACSM files. You can crack it using calibre to get epub which all these readers support

[andrewmutz]

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

[agnishom]

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

[sdoering]

Speaking of Tor, there is currently a massive and great Bundle for Scalzi books over at Humble by Tor. Just bought it, even if I already own a few of those, because the 4 books I don't yet have would be more expensive to buy separately.

[wwweston]

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.

[cyphar]

Breaking any kind of DRM (or writing, distributing, or using software that does so) violates section 1201 of the DMCA[1]. The maximum penalty for a violation is $500k and up to 5 years in prison. There are some token exemptions but none would apply in this case.

Ethically it's all completely bunk, but more people should be aware how insane modern copyright laws are so that we can reform them. And this is not new, folks like the FSF and EFF protested the signing of the 1996 WIPO Treaty too.

[1]: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/1201

[Anonyneko]

In some jurisdictions the act of removing DRM and any other similar kinds of protection is actually illegal by itself.

Ethics-wise, hard agree.

[Brian_K_White]

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.

[andrewmutz]

This issue isn't specific to the Kindle, you can go and buy books on Apple or Google or Kobo or Barnes and Noble and its the same story.

Many books can only be bought this way. Publishers don't want to sell books through platforms that don't have DRM, because they are scared of piracy.

It would be great if we could have open ebook reader software that could display these books.

eReaders like the Xteink X4 are beautiful but lots of books are impossible to legally read on it. Yes, I know that I can break the DRM, but I think its sad that this is the only path for legitimate purchases.

[kokada]

> It would be great if we could have open ebook reader software that could display these books.

I agree, but it also would be great if DRM wouldn't be use to restrict your device choice. The only reason Kindle DRM "works well" is because Amazon is basically the biggest eBook store in the world and Kindle are the most popular brand. But you can't buy a book in Kindle and use it in a Kobo device, for example.

DRM would be slightly more acceptable if the companies themselves didn't use it to also enforce their device lock-in (e.g., license their DRM to other companies), and so we are in the current situation where there is device lock-in and you are required to buy a eReader from Amazon if you want to read Kindle books, or at minimum buy one of those Android eReader devices since you can install Kindle app on it (but in this case you have all the other issues that you get by running Android in a eReader).

[jwrallie]

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

[mootdentures]

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)

[fastball]

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

[sushid]

Not parent commenter but I've been loving CrossInk after trying CrossPoint for a few days

[mootdentures]

I hadn't heard of CrossInk but it looks nice! I'll check it out

[mirrir]

from what i understand this is CrossPoint.

[itsthisjustin]

CrossInk is a fork of CrossPoint but Julia is a major maintainer of CrossPoint. FreeInk's SDK powers both

[fastball]

Oh yeah, indeed. Which is the rebrand haha

[itsthisjustin]

Freeink is just the SDK powering crosspoint fyi

[Eueudhsbsj32]

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..

[andersmmg]

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!

[imzadi]

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

[nehal3m]

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

[stevesimmons]

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.

[542354234235]

I just got the X3 and i love it for all those reasons. I have a card holder wallet that it fits right onto so I have it everywhere. I am reading so much more instead of checking my phone to fill random down time. I wondered if the small size would be annoying to read on, but since page turns are so quick and easy, I have zero issues. I'm actually starting to prefer it to my Kindle for longer reading because it is so light, I can hold it longer or in more random reading positions without any hand fatigue (as minor as that is with a Kindle).

[stevesimmons]

By the way, I'm in the UK. I bought it on eBay UK from a guy named "Reliable Trove" who imports them and reflashes them with CrossPoint.

I know it's not hard to do, but I needed it to work first time before my summer holiday, couldn't wait for a Chinese import, and had no spare time to mess around with putting new firmware on it.

[imzadi]

Just FYI for anyone reading this. "Easy to do" is an understatement. It's merely a matter of connecting the reader to the PC with a USB cable and then click the button on the webpage. The whole process is automated and done over the web.

[kstrauser]

I use it for my daily commute, spending my ride reading instead of doomscrolling. I just finished “A Confederacy of Dunces” and now I’m on “Lonesome Dove”.

I didn’t imagine how much I’d use a tiny, pocketable reader. I love it.

[colordrops]

How do you get your kindle books on it?

[Denkel]

I see a lot of people recommending removing the DRM, honestly, if you bought the book in Amazon (or Kobo or Barnes & Noble) I don't see an ethical issue with sailing the high seas to get a DRM-free version of it that you can properly backup and read anywhere.

[jerojero]

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).

[imzadi]

Look into Calibre.

[Brian_K_White]

Same way you get your ios apps on it.

[insane_dreamer]

can you use Calibre to put files on it?

[theshrike79]

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