yo, Mr. FPGA Engineer

Brannon King wrote: : Just curious: Do any Altera/Xilinx engineers actually read this forum? And : actually post answers? Prefer the forums on your websites? Prefer tech : support emails?

Do _you_ read the forum? Do you use the archive?

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Brannon,

If I start a timer, and see how long it takes to successfully answer a question, Xilinx Hotline wins most of the time over this newsgroup. As it should. The hotline is not well suited to questions like: how do I compare two different FPGAs?

But, this newsgroup does offer what other people might think, and what they have knowledge of. Hence it is valuable.

Peter, and I read this newsgroup for Xilinx, as well as other Xilinx employees who read it for other reasons than replying.

If you are a student and use Xilinx, there is a student forum dedicated to answering questions, and supporting you (see our website for details).

Aust> Just curious: Do any Altera/Xilinx engineers actually read this forum? And

Let me clarify this question a little bit. I didn't mean for it to be offensive. What I'm wondering is if FPGA producers mind doing support through this medium, and if they feel it's effective. I recognize most support issues go through specific support channels. Is the forum, though, a primary support channel? Is this a method to actually get at the engineers? For example, my questions about the Xilinx mapper would be easily answered by an engineer who works on the project, yet I doubt few others in the world actually know the answers, including Xilinx tech support -- they would have to get it from the engineers. So what is the correct route for that information? 100% of my posts to the Xilinx Forum have gone unanswered. About 70% of my posts to this forum have gone unanswered, though I would say

70% at least get commented on in this forum. I recognize some of that may be my fault, i.e., the question is too stupid or too hard or too specific or not enough info, etc.

Hello,

Yes, a fair number of engineers read this forum, including myself... It is very interesting to see what kinds of questions people need answered.

Fewer. I post occasionally when I feel I can offer some useful information.

My personal opinion follows. If you have an issue with a Xilinx product (silicon, software, ipcore...) the first place I would go is to the Xilinx Support team. They exist to help you. Your case is logged, and if it needs to get escalated to the development engineers, it will be.

Eric

Open a webcase. That's the "right" approach, but not necessarily the fastest path to an answer. This also enables an escalation mechanism that would take the question to the appropriate group/individuals if the first line can't handle it. I don't work for Xilinx, so this description might not be entirely accurate. That's what it looks like as a user.

I've given up posting on the forums in the Xilinx site. I don't know what you have to do to get a question answered there. Besides, for the right questions, this newsgroup provides significantly more resources than that approach. In general terms, I'll do a Google search of this NG before I attempt to find anything in the Xilinx website.

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a

engineers?

world

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On the few occasions when I've had a problem, I've opened a Webcase and had a reply in a day or so.

Leon

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Brannon,

The programmer working on the fiendishly difficult mapper code is unlikely to read this newsgroup. Further, the question you are asking today is three year old code to them.

Bottom line: ask the hotline. If the tech support folks don't know, they know where to go ask.

One reason why Peter and I look so intelligent (other than we really are intelligent!) is that we have hundreds of even smarter people working right near us.....

Aust> Let me clarify this question a little bit. I didn't mean for it to be

Not much more to say than has been said -- various Altera employees monitor this newsgroup, and we try to post responses when we know the answers and have the time. But Altera tech support (hot line, mysupport.altera.com) are the preferred ways for you to get support. Not only do you get escalation, tracking, etc., but there's also a better chance your question will be answered, and answered correctly. Tech support has access to a database of problems and resolutions, and chances are you're not the first to ask your particular question.

Regards,

Paul Leventis Altera Corp.

I, as well as many other Altera folks read this news group. While I can't speak for my colleagues on comp.arch.fpga specifically, I read/answer questions relevant to my area of expertise, but only if I have time. This isn't one of my official duties per se, but I am interested in seeing people succeed in using our products, that's all.

Jesse Kempa Altera Corp.

Sorry but I find the ¨Find Answers¨ on the Altera website too general. Rarely an answer for problems that arise in the life of a design engineer. The other side, with ¨Altera.com Account¨, where you need a password to log in, also a bit circuitous. And it requires JavaScript activated.

I find that Xilinx does it better when giving answers in the Newsgroups too.

Janos Ero (Altera user since 1993)

Brannon, I find with most of my Xilinx questions I go to support.xilinx.com, the data sheets and figure it out myself. I have been working with their parts for years. I also have relationships with local FAE's some of who are excellent design engineers. I don't like their support over the phone and have had schedule slips because of it.