List of Usenet newsgroups which might be helpful

[kshitij]

While these forums are an incredible resource, here are some old school newsgroups where you may still find helpful folks who learnt stuff without Google or Wikipedia to help them.
These newsgroups are spam-free (and active for a little over 15-20 yrs) , for the most part. An easy way to wade through the ad bots is to check for threads with only one post. More often than not, it's an advertisement.

The links are formatted like:
                 https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/<group name>
for e.g.,    https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/alt.comp.lang.learn.c-c++

Mods should feel free to merge this thread with the sticky on books and primers if they wish.

1) alt.comp.lang.learn.c-c++  :Beginner's C and C++ questions go here

2) comp.lang.c :Questions related to generic (os-agnostic) C preferred. Slight overlap with the learn group.

3) comp.lang.c++

4) comp.dsp: The signal processing group

5) sci.electronics.basics : for fundamentals

6) sci.electronics.cad : pcb design et al.

7) sci.electronics.components: Good for those rare part datasheets. People sometimes post their own chipset test data.

8) sci.electronics.design : Occasional overlap with the CAD group, and, oddly, some physics questions.

9) sci.electronics.equipment

10) sci.electronics.repair

11) comp.arch.embedded : Useful enough for AVR32 and MSP hobby questions. Some responses for ARM.

12) comp.realtime : Some experienced (read elderly) gentlemen do post some amazing tips occasionally

13) alt.lang.asm : Assembly fanatics (MASM, FASM etc.). Use the embedded, microcontroller or fpga newsgroups if you want to discuss specific hardware

14) alt.microcontrollers.8bit : Just an FYI, that, you are likely to get more helpful results about 8 bit AVR's from avrfreaks forums.

15) comp.soft-sys.matlab : Surprisingly better caliber of questions than the matlabcentral forums.

16) comp.arch.fpga

As a norm, try to search for whatever you are looking for before posting.

Also, this is a little off topic, but all these newgroups used to have an FAQ , sort of like a sticky post (loooong time ago, before Google, when Yahoo and Netscape Navigator ruled). If I find some of those still available, I might link them here.

I did find the C FAQ for the comp.lang.c newsgroup.  It's at http://c-faq.com/index.html
Still very helpful if you are into embedded C.


PS: I'm not old.