Hackaday · Creativity & design

E-ink Devices Can Now Be Printed To Directly

A new firmware fork allows certain e-ink devices to function as printers, simplifying document transfer.

The Xteink X4 and X3, based on the ESP32-C3 microcontroller, can now be printed to directly using a modified version of the CrossPoint firmware. This fork implements the Internet Printer Protocol (IPP) on the ESP32-C3.

Users can select the e-ink reader as a printer in their operating system and simply 'print' documents to it. The device advertises itself as a 300 DPI, monochrome, single-sided printer for A5 paper, accepting Apple raster and PWG raster formats.

Due to limited microcontroller RAM, images are processed row-by-row, with data sent directly to the screen and also saved to an SD card. This SD card folder acts as the device's 'output tray'.

This printing interface offers a simple method for loading documents onto e-ink devices and could be beneficial for other e-ink products. The method is reminiscent of older AlphaSmart word processors, which used a USB keyboard emulation for file transfer.

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