Xteink X4 - Pocket Dashboard

we started TRMNL with 1 display, 1 board, 1 battery.

bringing products to market takes months of prototyping, development, testing, followed by manufacturing lead times, electrical certifications, marketing, and a healthy dose of stress.

knowing this, we devised a backup plan. we call it BYOD, short for Bring Your Own Device.

the BYOD promise is simple -- if you can piece together a display and a board, we'll provide tools to make it TRMNL friendly.

and it's working out great. over 2,000 DIY devices are pointed at TRMNL, and even more point at self hosted servers as part of our BYOS (Bring your own Server) program.

X4 is now BYOD friendly

last year Xteink shipped a small, hackable e-reader. a community formed and Dave Allie built Crosspoint Reader, an (unofficially) higher quality firmware for the device.

thanks to the X4 more people are reading, thinking, and staying informed without Apple or Google's permission. without a bookbag or a keyboard, or even a desk chair.

this is a community we want to be part of, so Larry from the TRMNL team extended our firmware to support the X4 device and it looks awesome.

get started

first, decide if you want to self-host TRMNL (for free) or spend a few bucks to use our proprietary web app. use code X434 to get a lifetime BYOD license for $34 (usually $50) here.

in either case you'll have access to 100s of plugins and no coding is required. for this guide i'll use our done-for-you server.

so let's start hacking. i unbox a brand new X4, head over to trmnl.com/flash, and select X4 from the dropdown menu, defaulting to the latest firmware version.

next i plug in my device, click Connect, and confirm that i want to install TRMNL Firmware. note: this step requires either Chrome or Microsoft Edge.

now my device is flashed, so i restart it by clicking the power button (or reset button) and get this connection screen.

as the screen suggests, i pull out my phone and open WiFi, then connect to the new TRMNL network that my X4 is broadcasting.

on this connection screen is a list of WiFi networks around me. before selecting one i copy/paste the "MAC" address to my clipboard. we'll need this in a minute.

next, i head back to my TRMNL account > Device settings > Developer perks and update the placeholder MAC address with my X4's MAC address.

finally i can input my local WiFi credentials and click Connect. my X4 now shows this screen:

back inside TRMNL i can add this new Friendly ID as a new device, and within seconds i get my first screen.

adding content

my X4 works just like any other TRMNL device. after enabling a couple plugins and adding them to my playlist i have a passive dashboard that fits in my pocket.

clicking the X4's power button will manually cycle to new screens, otherwise my refresh settings inside TRMNL will determine how often the X4 fetches new content automatically.

between screen refreshes i see this little loader icon, letting me know my X4 button press was registered.

here's another plugin, Apple Photos, featuring a picture of our warehouse outside Atlanta, Georgia.

who knows, maybe one day we can pre-flash and ship an X4 to you?

until then, enjoy TRMNL with code X434 for just $34, one time for life. or spin up an open source server completely free. a more detailed tutorial with FAQ and troubleshooting can be found here.

to staying focused,
Ryan and the TRMNL team