This used to be a robust forum, lots of new questions everyday and, most impotantly, lots of responses. This new forum is clunky and time consuming to navigate. Nobody seems interested anymore. I used to check-in everyday to see what's new. Not any more.

Indeed the new forum is much harder to navigate compared to the old one. The classification of the different sections is far from optimal. Two of the current sections have less than 10 posts, which clearly shows there is not enough interest in those topics to need their own separate sections. On the other hand, the first three sections are clustered with posts from vastly different topics which make them extremely hard to navigate. I would specifically object to merging the OpenCL section from the previous forum into the FPGA Design Tools section in the new one. OpenCL and HLS could certainly use their own separate section. I am sure the first three sections can be split into more fine-grained sections to allow easier navigation. One thing I really wished had been kept from the previous forum was the section structure.There are also multiple other problems that have been mentioned before by other users but still remain:1- The forum is still too heavy and too slow.2- The general design of the forum wastes too much white space. The laderboard/ask a question column on the right is of little practical use.3- Threads in a section are sorted by last reply as they should be. However, only the author and time of opening the thread is included under the thread name in each section which makes it hard to tell whether the thread has been updated since last visit or not. In my opinion, the author and time of the last reply should also be included as it was in the previous forum.4- One thing I have noticed is that there is no way to download attachments that can be previewed. I certainly prefer to open a 100-page PDF attachment using my own PDF reader rather than the built-in preview mechanism provided by the forum.5- The boundaries of each post when viewing a thread are not very clear. There is basically just a very thin line separating replies from each other. Furthermore, the "show more" mechanism cuts replies far too early. The threshold for cutting the reply could be increased for easier navigation.Unfortunately, as it seems, many of the previous users have either left the forum or are not as active anymore and I cannot attribute this to anything other than the sudden huge change in the structure of the forum. I would urge the developers/admins of the new forum to take another look at the previous forum and I am sure they would be able to find a lot of useful features from the previous forum that are missing in the new one.

For me, the major point missing (besides the ones already mentioned and the disappointing lack of performance) is a "new since my last visit" view.A basic functionality I would expect from any half-decent social media application.

Well, lets see. You can't find this forum anywhere from the Altera/Intel web page or login. You have to have an email with the "secret" link. No one from Intel responds. It is hard to read, hard to find things, takes up a lot of space on the page. It is kind of like the whole intel web page. Clunky, hard to read cluttered, useless, links go in circles, links not correct, too much crap to sort through to find what you want if it is even there.This is my first impression after trying for weeks to find this forum, hours on the phone to see if anyone in intel even knew they had an FPGA group(they don't I have been told) then finally given the secret location to this mess.

Not being able to see the timestamp of the last post to a thread and which threads you have unread topics in unheard of in most other forums.

I agree. 💔 This feels dumbed down. Like right now I'm supposed to respond using this narrow column because it looks cool??? FWIW as a former Altera now Intel employee, I couldn't even login without escalating to several people to find out how employee get permission to this site due to bugs in the current website. I not sure this affects everyone but it could be a reason a lot of old Altera folks are not responding.

Is anybody else completely dissatisfied with this new forum?

119 Replies

BobSD
New Contributor
6 years ago
I totally agree with SSilu. The Xilinx forum has always been way more active than Altera's, and now under Intel this new forum truly is a joke. Other resources, like rocketboards, seem to have been abandoned as well. The Arria 10 reference designs on rocketboards have not been updated in years now.
corestar
Contributor
6 years ago
It's been four years since Intel bought Altera. It's time to accept the fact that they destroyed it and have no interest in anything other than data centers. They don't care about you; accept it and move on.
If you're using a FGPA Soc, the Xilinx tools make Altera look ridiculous. It's been that way for at least 8 years and is not going to change. It's a shame since Quartus is far superior to Vivado, but the Altera Soc tools people are clueless when it comes to making a usable tool.
If you're using lower end FPGA's (eg Cyclone, MAX 10) the new Lattice CrossLink-NX are worth a look. Intel has completely abandoned this market (as has Xilinx) and Lattice is moving full speed ahead.
Pvand1
Occasional Contributor
6 years ago
Agree here as well. Lattice seems like a good alternative, or Xilinx although it seems they are mostely going SoC.
Does anyone know another forum that comes close to the old Alteraforums, fun HDL questions, some on protocols etc?
- dave_59
  New Contributor
  6 years ago
  Highly recommend https://www.edaboard.com/forumdisplay.php?30-PLD-SPLD-GAL-CPLD-FPGA-Design
  And https://electronics.stackexchange.com. with one or more of the filters tags: hdl, verilog, VHDL, system-verilog, quartus
  - MaryT_Intel
    Occasional Contributor
    5 years ago
    Hello all,
    
    I just wanted to reply back on this old thread to let you all know we heard you and based on your feedback, we have moved our community to a new platform.
    
    Can you please come back and check out the site, see how you like it now? My job is to make sure you feel supported with our products and can easily get the help you need through this Community.
    
    We hope you like this new experience but as always, we appreciate your input and feedback. I'm taking a list of other improvement ideas, such as widening the space available to read the posts, adding buttons to move to the bottom or top quickly... let me know anything else and we'll work on it.
    
    Kind regards,
    
    Mary T.
    
    Support Community Manager
    
    intel.community@intel.com
BobSD
New Contributor
6 years ago
Back in the usenet days the comp.arch.fpga discussion group was very good. I don't use it anymore but the group is still around under the Google umbrella:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/comp.arch.fpga
JGFMK
New Contributor
1 year ago
I'd like to know why a post I added got removed.
https://community.intel.com/t5/Wireless/Netwtw14-Cannot-be-Found/m-p/1605423
There were multiple entries from me here - now things are missing. Smacks of a cover up.
- sstrell
  Super Contributor
  1 year ago
  Removed from where? That post doesn't look FPGA or Quartus related.
BoonBengT_Altera
Moderator
1 year ago
Hi @JGFMK,

Based on the link provided, we are still able to access the mention thread.

Hence I would say it was not removed, and we do notice that you have commented on the post as well.

Hope that clarify your question.

Best Wishes

BB
FDJKL
New Contributor
10 months ago
The forum is 100% total garbage. It doesn't keep you logged in (how hard is it to set a cookie???) so you have to log in over and over again. Then it randomly "forgets" your account so you have to create a new one. This is my fourth. It's insane that a huge corporation like Intel can't get a freaking Internet forum working.

And I had to write this reply multiple times because the stupid forum thinks it is spam. IT IS NOT.
- _AK6DN_
  Frequent Contributor
  10 months ago
  Totally agree. I rarely reply to posts anymore even if I know the answer. Every time I have to login again. Twice. And then 2FA.
  FFS why? Every other forum I participate remembers my login and I only have to login ONCE maybe once a week or so.
  The old Altera forum was a much better place, very active, easy to use.
  Now that Altera is no longer part of Intel corporate they should seriously consider ditching this abysmal forum and go back to the old one.
  Sorry to burst your bubble Intel but you just don't know what you are doing and have lost your mojo.
FDJKL
New Contributor
10 months ago
ALSO. Why is the forum spamming my inbox? Email is fine when someone else replies to a thread I participate in. But wtf would I care about stupid "badges" I earn? And wtf would I need an email every time I write a comment? Does Intel think their users are senile and can't remember what they did 30 seconds ago?
- Anonymous
  10 months ago
  Checck your settings, subscriptions and notifications.
  Doc (not an Intel employee or contractor)
  [W10 is this generation's XP]

Forum Discussion

Is anybody else completely dissatisfied with this new forum?

119 Replies

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