I bought an XTEINK X4 Pro because I wanted a dedicated e-reader that did not also try to be a phone, a tablet, a notification machine, and a tiny casino in my pocket.
That was a reasonable plan.
It lasted about as long as my Apple TV remote’s relationship with a microwave.
Stage one: CrossPoint
The stock firmware on these devices is fine. Fine is not why anyone ends up reading firmware release notes at midnight.
So I flashed CrossPoint.
CrossPoint is an open e-reader firmware for the X4 Pro, and it is very good at the thing e-ink is famous for: holding a page still while you think. EPUB reading, file browsing, sync, the boring infrastructure that makes a reader feel like a reader. If you want a clean, distraction-light book machine, stop here. Honestly. Most people should stop here.
I did not stop here.
Stage two: CrossPlay
Then I found CrossPlay.
CrossPlay is a fork of CrossPoint with a very specific thesis: the thing that makes e-ink good for reading is not that it shows text. It is that it holds still while you think. A chess position is that. A flashcard is that. A logic puzzle is that. A comic page is that. So someone finally built the rest of those still activities on top of the reader.
Their line is better than mine:
E-ink is good at waiting.
On the shelf you get Chess, Battleship, Solitaire, Sudoku, Minesweeper, Connections, Murdle, Jaipur, Sea Salt, Wavelength, Study with Anki decks, Hacker News, the xkcd archive, Get Books, Instapaper, Wikipedia, and more. Several games can talk to a second device on the table over ESP-NOW with no pairing theater, no account, and no Wi-Fi. Two readers. One table. PLAY NEARBY. It feels weirdly like a Nintendo DS with the lid off and none of the storefront nonsense.
I flashed it. I played with it. I told myself this was the end of the story.
It was not.
Stage three: “what if I just added one more thing”
This is the part of the blog where responsible adults say they contributed a small utility and moved on.
I did not contribute a small utility and move on.
CrossPlay is open, MIT-licensed, and shaped so new apps live in their own corner of the tree instead of fighting the reader every upstream merge. That is extremely dangerous information to hand someone like me. Once I understood the shelf, the simulator, and the “one still screen, one job” design language, the question stopped being “can I add an app?” and became “why is this device not also my pocket toolbox?”
So I started building.
What I brought
Some of these are games. Some are tools. Some are jokes that somehow shipped. All of them run offline on a screen that stays put until you tap it again.
The IT-shaped ones
NET is CIDR math, reserved address blocks, common ports, HTTP status codes, DNS record types, Unix mode bits, a cron builder, and a 2.4 GHz site survey. It is the scrap of paper I used to keep in my head, except it does not live in a notebook I can lose under a pile of cables.
KEYS rolls passwords, passphrases, or four XKCD-style words. There is no clipboard and no cloud. The face just sits there looking smug until you write the thing down.
EXCUSE is exactly what it sounds like. Fortune cookie. BOFH. Fake ticket resolution. House favorite:
THE FIREWALL IS EXPERIENCING A QUANTUM ROUTING ANOMALY
I am not saying this has professional applications. I am also not not saying that.
The pocket toolkit
CALCULATOR, UNITS, and BILL cover the restaurant math of modern life. Tip. Split. Convert. Leave without opening a phone that immediately reminds you about seventeen other apps.
TIMER, DICE, TALLY, and SCORE are for classrooms, game nights, and anyone who has ever lost count because someone asked a question mid-count.
RULER is my favorite tiny idea: an inch and centimeter scale along the physical edge of the panel. The glass is the ruler. You hold the device against the thing. This should not feel magical, and yet.
TRIP and MPG keep fill-ups and fuel arithmetic on the card. ZONES, DATE, SUN, and MOON handle “what time is it there” and “is there actually going to be light” without a weather app that also wants your location history forever.
PICK decides for you when the group has collapsed into democracy. EIGHT is a Magic 8-Ball, because every serious firmware project needs one. SKETCH lets you doodle on e-ink, which is somehow more satisfying than it has any right to be.
PHOTO is camera tables, pose prompts, and short field notes. AID is a condensed memory aid for training you already have. Call for help first. Do not use a gadget as a substitute for judgment. The device is a reminder, not an ambulance.
The games I could not leave alone either
CrossPlay already had a serious games shelf. I still added Mancala, Reversi, Traffic, Tripeaks, 2048, Wordle, Mastermind, Hangman, Fifteen, and Casino. Not because the world needed another 2048. Because a still screen is weirdly perfect for “think, then move,” and once you feel that click it is hard to stop filling the shelf.
Casino is the part I am least proud of admitting in public. I bought this thing specifically to avoid having a tiny casino in my pocket. Then I wrote one. The difference is that this casino does not send me push notifications about free spins while I am trying to read.
Why this actually matters
Yes, some of this is silly. The silly part is load-bearing.
An open e-ink device with a real app shelf changes the category. It stops being “a Kindle alternative” and starts being a pocket computer for activities that benefit from stillness:
- No push notifications. The screen does not interrupt you. That is the product.
- Offline first. CIDR math at a hotel desk with bad Wi-Fi still works. Password generation on a plane still works. A tip calculator in a basement restaurant still works.
- Local multiplayer without accounts. Two devices can find each other on a table. No QR ritual. No “create an account to continue.”
- You can build the missing piece. There is no store approval process. There is a shelf entry, a simulator, and a flash. If you want a first-aid memory aid, a site-survey chip, or a BOFH excuse roller, you can put it there.
- The hardware finally matches the software idea. E-ink is bad at twitch games and great at contemplation. CrossPlay leans into that instead of apologizing for it.
I keep thinking about classrooms, help desks, field work, travel, tabletop nights, and all the tiny moments where unlocking a phone is the wrong interface. You do not need a slot machine in your pocket to convert units or check a netmask. You need a calm rectangle that holds still.
The path, if you want to follow it
- Get an XTEINK X4 Pro (or a supported sibling like the reTerminal Sticky).
- Start with CrossPoint if you mostly want a great reader.
- Move to CrossPlay when you decide the still screen deserves a life outside books.
- Then, if you are anything like me, open
src/apps_local/, add one “tiny” app, and watch your weekend disappear in the most delightful way.
I came for quieter reading. I stayed because the firmware was open. I got stuck because the platform made it too easy to invent the next thing the device should already know how to do. I also somehow ended up with a casino in my pocket anyway, which is either character growth or a warning label.
Also I now own a Magic 8-Ball that fits in a jacket pocket. Technically it runs on the e-reader’s rechargeable battery, which is somehow less charming to say out loud, but it still feels like winning a very specific argument with the universe.