MicroSlate Korean

Installing MicroSlate Korean, which turns the X4 into a dedicated writing device for a Bluetooth keyboard: Korean input, shortcuts, and switching to and from CrossPoint.

Firmware described: MicroSlate 2.1.0-ko.2 · Xteink X4

About MicroSlate

MicroSlate turns the Xteink X4 into a dedicated writing device for a Bluetooth keyboard. It is based on Josh-writes/microslate-firmware; crosspoint-reader-ko added Dubeolsik Korean input, the RIDIBatang font and a Korean UI. Notes are saved as text files on the SD card.

Three writing modes: scroll, typewriter (current line only) and pages (redraws only on page turns)
Auto-save after 10 seconds idle, every 60 seconds while typing, and at paragraph breaks; every exit saves too
Find (Ctrl+F), selection, copy, cut and paste, word count
Remembers up to 4 keyboards and reconnects on start
Wi-Fi backup to a PC, dark mode, display orientation

X4 only. The X3 has the same chip but a different display, so MicroSlate doesn't run on it. Most Bluetooth keyboards connect. The chip (ESP32-C3) supports only Bluetooth LE, so older keyboards that speak only Classic Bluetooth won't connect.

Install

Method	File	When	Device settings
Dual boot	dualboot-ko-<version>.bin	First install, with CrossPoint next to it	Reset
MicroSlate only	microslate-<version>-app.bin	Update MicroSlate on a dual-boot device	Kept
MicroSlate alone	microslate-<version>.bin	MicroSlate without CrossPoint	Reset

With the web flasher (USB)

Open the web flasher in Chrome or Edge and pick Xteink X4.
Under Korean community firmware, pick an install method in MicroSlate Korean. For a first install, pick dual boot.
Press flash and pick the device connected over USB. The dual-boot image is about 12MB, so it takes a few minutes.
The device starts in CrossPoint. Home → Apps switches to MicroSlate.

Dual boot and the standalone image write everything from the bootloader up, so device settings and Bluetooth pairing are reset. Books and notes on the SD card stay. MicroSlate also backs up keyboard pairing, Wi-Fi and display settings to the SD card and restores them, so an SD card used with MicroSlate before brings them back.

Updating MicroSlate

When a new MicroSlate comes out, pick Add or update MicroSlate only. The flasher reads both app partitions and writes the new MicroSlate only where the old one was, leaving CrossPoint and settings alone. If the device's CrossPoint can't start MicroSlate, it stops without writing. The released Korean firmware (1.6.5-ko) can't start MicroSlate yet, so the first install has to be dual boot.

First start and keyboard

Insert a FAT32 SD card and start MicroSlate. The main menu appears.
Menus start in English. Switch to Korean in Settings → Language if you like.
In Settings → Bluetooth, scan with the keyboard in pairing mode, pick it and press Enter.
Back in the main menu, choose New Note and start writing.

A scan runs for 5 seconds and lists up to 10 nearby devices. A dropped keyboard is retried every 5 seconds. If it keeps dropping, raise Settings → BLE Power one step at a time (it costs some battery).

Korean input

Hangul is composed on the device with the Dubeolsik layout. Notes use RIDIBatang (12/14/16pt), which covers all 11,172 modern Hangul syllables. In Korean mode the header shows 한 and the syllable being composed is underlined.

Screens are from the X4 in the x4prosim emulator. The emulator has no Bluetooth, so only the keystrokes came in over USB; the Hangul composer and editor are the real firmware.

Key	Action
Shift+Space	Toggle Korean/English
Han/Yeong key, Ctrl+Space	Toggle Korean/English
Tap Right Alt or Right Cmd	Toggle Korean/English (US QWERTY or Korean layout)
Backspace	Removes one jamo while composing
Ctrl+K	Cycle layouts (US → Russian → German → Korean)

Any key other than a letter or Backspace (space, punctuation, arrows, Enter) finishes the syllable. Note titles are ASCII only, since the file name comes from the title.

Shortcuts

Editor

Key	Action
Arrows, Home/End	Move the cursor
Shift+arrows, Ctrl+A	Select, select all
Ctrl+C/X/V	Copy, cut, paste
Ctrl+F	Find (Enter next, Esc close)
Tab	Cycle writing mode (scroll → typewriter → pages)
Ctrl+Z	Clean mode: text only
Ctrl+W	Word count
Ctrl+S	Save now (auto-save usually covers it)
Ctrl+N	Rename the note
Esc, back button	Save and return to the list

Note list

Key	Action
Up/Down	Pick a note (newest saved on top)
Enter	Open
Ctrl+N	Rename
Ctrl+D	Delete (confirm with Enter)
Esc	Main menu

The header shows the writing mode: [S] scroll, [T] typewriter, [P] pages. In page mode Ctrl+←/→ turns pages. The device buttons also move through menus and lists without a keyboard.

Switching with CrossPoint

CrossPoint → MicroSlate: Home → Apps → MicroSlate (한글) restarts into MicroSlate. Right after install it may show as xteink-writer-firmware once; MicroSlate registers its name the first time it runs.
MicroSlate → CrossPoint: choose CrossPoint in the main menu.
Both use the same SD card, so you can write and go back to the book where you left off.

While dual booting, CrossPoint's OTA and SD card firmware updates are blocked so they can't overwrite MicroSlate. To update CrossPoint, flash a newer dual-boot image. Flashing the Korean firmware from the web flasher lands on MicroSlate's partition and removes MicroSlate.

Back up to a PC

Sync in the main menu downloads every note to a PC on the same Wi-Fi. It is one-way (device → PC) and the device's server is read-only. The PC needs the sync script (Python) from the MicroSlate repository installed once. See WiFi Sync in the MicroSlate README.

Back to the Korean firmware

In the web flasher, pick Xteink X4 and press Flash on the Korean firmware at the top.
The flasher writes the Korean partition table and app. MicroSlate is removed; books and notes on the SD card stay.

MicroSlate README: every shortcut, setting and keyboard option
Release notes: changes and image files per version
Report a problem: GitHub issues