Checking mailbox - What's that?

WbbS

Experienced
When I power on the Axe-Fx, among the other system check that are listed I saw "Checking mailbox"....

IMG_8516.jpg

What is this for? Just curious.
My Axe has a girlfriend somewhere in the world and he checks every time if she has sent any email?
 
On a serious note: interprocessor communications often use "mailboxes". You have an inbox and an outbox. You send messages to other processor(s) by putting a message in the outbox. You receive messages in your inbox.
 
On a serious note: interprocessor communications often use "mailboxes". You have an inbox and an outbox. You send messages to other processor(s) by putting a message in the outbox. You receive messages in your inbox.

Is that just one of the ways to do IPC on that platform? "Mail" implies a high-latency "I'll get around to it when I do" communication model, but maybe that's just in my head.
 
It's checking for new amp models. Sometimes Santa Claus uses the mailbox instead of the chimney, and sometimes he shows up unscheduled.
 
Can we add a few more please?

  • checking to make sure the kids are sleeping
  • checking to make sure the wife isn't home, while we delivery your new music equipment
  • checking to make sure you have 8 hours free on your calendar, because as soon as you power up your Axe, you're going to need it
 
If you're familiar with programming, especially if you've used events, it's like an event queue. Other processes can toss things they want you to respond to into your mailbox, then you can toss an answer back to their mailbox or queue. Everything runs as independent modular code, not as a monolithic application. It's a really good thing. :)

Cliff talked about this in the Wiki:

When powering on, the III displays diagnostic messages during the first phase of the boot routine.

This includes "checking mailbox":

"Going all the way back to the original Axe-Fx I used a concept called a "Mailbox" to communicate between processors. Each processor has an inbox and an outbox. I'm self-taught in programming and computer science so it was just a way I came up with to send data back and forth. Turns out that mailboxes are actually a technique used in interprocessor communications. In this specific case the processor is checking the mailbox from the front panel to see if any buttons were pressed at power-on." [21]
 
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