One shall do what he/she loves

This young man deserves respect. Alexander Alexandrov - 2015 BSUIR graduate who was majoring in Computers, Computer Systems and Networks - is the owner of a unique collection and organizer of an exhibition of retro computers. He has been successfully combining his studies at BSUIR and work at the National Academy of Sciences, but today you will learn more about his extracurricular activities and hobbies.

- Alexander, would you please share with us, what are your extracurricular hobbies?

- Well, I have a plenty of them, but the most important for me is retro engineering (collecting, analyzing, repairing and upgrading old electronics). I like programming embedded systems. This was a hobby in the beginning, now it has become my main job. I’ve got a passion for audio and video devices, too. I have a big collection of video devices, circa 20 video cassette recorders of different standards.

- When did you feel that retro engineering is your passion?

- In my childhood. My father used to repair electronics. There were a plenty of different TVs, VCRs, video game consoles at home. And of course, I liked to watch what he was doing.

When I was 3 years old, I was bought my first computer, it was a Soviet "BYTE". It had a training program to learn how to use the keyboard. One can say that owing to it I’ve learned to read, because in order to work with the keyboard one had to enter words and commands.

- May you tell us a bit about your retro-computers exhibition?

- The first exhibition took place on the BSUIR premises in 2013 on the occasion of the International Programmers’ Day. Although it was an event totally organized ad hoc, we had just a few days for preparation, it was a success. The next year the University was celebrating its 50th anniversary and we’ve decided to repeat our success. This time I had seven month for thorough preparation (hence some of my retro-computers were at home in Brest, and some were broken).

- How long have you been collecting old PCs?

- I think my first computer was the first step in the creation of my collection.

- And was it presented in the exhibition?

- Yes, but it was not my personal "BYTE". Unfortunately it did not want to work, and I had to replace it by another one. The second most important in the exhibition computer was a self-made computer "Radio 86", which appeared in my 11 years. It was given by my father’s friend. The peculiarity of this computer was that it operated in hexadecimal codes, I was using numbers and letters from A to F. It has helped me in studying computer architecture and basics of assembly language.

The third most important exhibit was "Commodore 16". It had no documentation or programmes. I had to explore on my own how to work with it. It took a lot of time, round one month. In my 13-14 years I was bought a new modern PC with the Internet access. I started to chat on the forums with different people and learned that there were a great variety of interesting, not similar one to another models. This gave rise to a desire to gather my own collection of vintage computers. By the time I graduated from school I had dozens of PCs in my collection. This moment can be considered as the reference point of the creation of the collection. And all my exhibits were different and quite rare.

- How many computers do you have in your collection now? How many of them are in working condition?

- Before the start of my exhibition, there were about two hundred items, including various printers, monitors, etc. After the exhibition my collection has expanded significantly. Now it includes about three hundred items. Almost everything is working, and if something does not work, we will soon fix it.

- What could you advise to our undergraduates?

- With great confidence I can say that every one shall do what he loves. Do not listen to anyone and do not allow yourself to be led by your friends. You need to try to make your favorite hobby not just a hobby, but, ideally, somehow intertwine it with your studies, and, further on, work. Then everything will be fine