DOGEAR

Concept

A new issue arrives every Monday, covering that week. Each one is a small, chosen set of entries from a curated calendar of literary dates: writers’ births and deaths, books and their publication, prizes and other literary anniversaries, and the occasional discovery. The cover lists the week, and each entry gets a screen of its own. Some weeks are quieter than others, and the issue says so rather than filling the space. Once you reach the end, you are done until next Monday.

From the e-ink screen to your phone

The issue ends with one QR code that opens the week’s full edition on the web: the stories in full, their sources, and reading links. You can also read every issue at dogear.archievalmariano.com ↗.

Some entries go further than the story. When a book is free to read online, the entry links straight to it: in the 19 October 2026 issue ↗, Oscar Wilde’s entry carried a READ ONLINE link to The Picture of Dorian Gray on Project Gutenberg ↗, which on the device opens as a QR code of its own. Other entries lead somewhere worth reading next, such as the Nobel Prize page for that year’s laureate or a biography, and some have no link at all.

A free-reading link is offered only for an edition that is in the public domain everywhere. Some books on Project Gutenberg are public domain in the United States but not in every country, and DOGEAR doesn’t link those.

Supported hardware

Runs on the XTEINK X4 and XTEINK X4 Pro running CrossPoint Reader. DOGEAR presents the same weekly literary digest in layouts adapted to each device’s screen. Not sure which you have? The X4 Pro has a touchscreen and a warm/cool frontlight; the original X4 does not.

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Download

DOGEAR comes in the packages that name it, together with GOTO, ON POINT or both. On the X4 that is GOTO + DOGEAR, installed from a microSD card on v1.4.0; on the X4 Pro, choose any of the three, installed over USB on v1.5.0. After installing, DOGEAR lives in the Apps menu on the CrossPoint home screen, and later releases install over Wi-Fi from Settings → System → Check for updates, keeping the package you chose. If you already run GOTO or ON POINT, install a DOGEAR package once by hand to add it.

Installing on the XTEINK X4

1. Download firmware-x4-gd.bin.
2. Copy it to the root of a microSD card.
3. On the X4, open Settings → System → SD Card Firmware Update.
4. Select the DOGEAR firmware and install it.
5. Open Apps → DOGEAR.

The X4 installation guide covers each step with photos. It is written for GOTO, and the steps are the same with the DOGEAR file.

Installing on the XTEINK X4 Pro

1. Download the factory image for the package you want.
2. Connect the X4 Pro over USB and find its port. On macOS it looks like /dev/cu.usbmodem101; the guide below covers Linux and Windows.
3. In the folder that holds the download, flash the file for your package at 0x0 with esptool, replacing the port with yours.

   GOTO + DOGEAR

   esptool --chip esp32s3 --port /dev/cu.usbmodem101 --baud 921600 write_flash 0x0 firmware-x4pro-gd.factory.bin

   ON POINT + DOGEAR

   esptool --chip esp32s3 --port /dev/cu.usbmodem101 --baud 921600 write_flash 0x0 firmware-x4pro-pd.factory.bin

   GOTO + ON POINT + DOGEAR

   esptool --chip esp32s3 --port /dev/cu.usbmodem101 --baud 921600 write_flash 0x0 firmware-x4pro-gpd.factory.bin

4. After it restarts, connect to Wi-Fi.
5. Open Apps → DOGEAR.

The X4 Pro USB guide covers installing esptool, finding the port and troubleshooting. It is written for GOTO, and the steps are the same with the DOGEAR file.

Flashing a factory image replaces the internal firmware and may reset settings and saved Wi-Fi. Your microSD card is not affected.

DOGEAR downloads the week’s issue over Wi-Fi. If Wi-Fi is not connected when you open it, it opens CrossPoint’s Wi-Fi screen first. Connect for the latest issue, or press Back to read the last saved one, marked CACHED.

Notes

DOGEAR is an independent project. The web edition lists the sources for each entry, and the books and pages it links to remain with their publishers.