GateIn forum is working for me: http://community.jboss.org/en/gatein?view=discussions
The portlet container and few other modules in GateIn are inherited from JBoss Portal. What has changed significantly is portal administration and UI. I am very sure that's for good so you are not really loosing anything here by switching given that you are still in proof of concept stage.
Having said that I will take a look at your other issues and see if I can help.