ICE Felix HC 2000

Between 1992 and 1994 the Romanian company ICE Felix manufactured the HC 2000 microcomputer that came with a built-in floppy disk drive and there was a version with a built-in tape recorder.

I managed to snatch one from a thrift shop, in my travels.

The HC 2000 was actually an HC-91 with internal disk interface and 3.5" floppy disk drive. Major hardware differences were a white larger case housing the floppy drive, and 64 KB of RAM of which 48 KB were available in Spectrum mode, and 56 KB in CP/M mode. Two 32 KB ROM chips were used, first one held the Spectrum BASIC, second the CP/M OS and IF1 disk interface.

ICE Felix logo

The ROM also held specific commands to manage the diskettes (FORMAT, CAT, LOAD, SAVE, VERIFY, ERASE), as well as a RANDOMIZE USR 14446 which allowed to load the CP/M OS. At boot-up, a simple RUN command loaded and ran a ‘Run’ program (ancestor of MS-DOS ‘Autorun’) on the diskette.

Features

ManufacturerICE Felix [archived website]
Country of originRomania
Manufactured1992 - 1994
Built-in languageSinclair BASIC
KeyboardFull stroke 51 keys
CPUZilog Z80A
CPU frequency3.5 MHz
RAM64 KB
ROM48 KB (BASIC interpreter (16K), CP/M BIOS (8K) and IF1 disk interface (8K)
Text modes32 chars x 24 lines (Spectrum mode) - 80 chars x 25 lines (CP/M mode)
Graphic modes256 x 192 pixels
Colors16 (8 colours in normal or bright modes)
SoundBeeper (10 octaves)
Dimensions50 (W) x 20 (D) x 6 (H) cm
I/O portsTV/RF, RGB, Joystick, ZX-Expansion Bus, Tape recorder, Power supply, CCITT V24 serial interface (RS-232C), external floppy disk drive
Built-in media3.5" floppy drive unit / 720Kb
Operating SystemSinclair BASIC or CP/M
Power supplyExternal power supply unit, +5V (for TTL chips), +12V, -12V (for the serial interface)
PCB dimensions478 (W) x 183 (D) mm
Internal FDDToshiba LR56034 ND-352TH-A FDD4216G0K or compatible

Connectors

RS 232C connectorRGB connectorJoystickAudioPower
1. CTS1. SHVL1. Left1. In (Mic)1. +5V
2. DTR2. Ground2. Right2. Ground2. Ground
3. RxData3. R (Red)3. Up3. Out (Ear)3. -12V
4. TxData4. G (Green)4. Fire4. Not connected4. +12V
5. Network5. BL (Blue)5. Not connected5. +5V5. +5V
6. Serial ground6. Ground6. Not connected6. Ground
7. Serial ground7. Composite Out7. Joystick 1 select7. -12V
8. Serial ground8. Horizontal Sync8. Joystick 2 select8. +12V
9. Network ground9. Vertical Sync9. Down
Edge ConnectorFloppy Disk
A15 - 1. - A141. +12V
A13 - 2. - A122. +12V
D7 - 3. - +5v3. Ground
Not connected - 4. - CPM4. Ground
SLOT - 5. - SLOT5. +5V
D0 - 6. - Ground6. +5V
D1 - 7. - Ground7. Ground
D2 - 8. - CK8. INDEX
D6 - 9. - A09. Ground
D5 - 10. - A110. DS0 (DS1 on external FD connector)
D3 - 11. - A211. Ground
D4 - 12. - A312. DS1 (DS0 on external FD connector)
INTL - 13. - IORGE13. Ground
NMIL - 14. - Ground14. DS0 (DS1 on external FD connector)
HALTL - 15. - Not connected15. Ground
MREQL - 16. - Not connected16. DS1 (DS0 on external FD connector)
IORQL - 17. - Not connected17. Ground
RDL - 18. - Not connected18. DIR
WRL - 19. - BUSRAQL19. Ground
Not connected - 20. - RESETL20. STEP
WAITL - 21. - A721. Ground
Not connected - 22. - A622. WRDATA
Not connected - 23. - A523. Ground
M1L - 24. - A424. WREN
RFSHL - 25. - ROMCS25. Ground
A8 - 26. - BUSACKL26. TRACK0
A10 - 27. - A927. Ground
Not connected - 28. - A1128. PROT
29. Ground
30. RDDATA
31. Ground
32. SIDE
33. Ground
34. Not connected

Schematic

 Video RGB & composite connector9-pin female D-Sub DE-9
 Sinclair joystick connector9-pin male D-Sub DE-9
 Tape connector5-pin male DIN
 Power connector
 Serial port9-pin female D-Sub DE-9
 External FDD power connectorUsually not mounted
 FDD connectors34 pins, external connector usually not mounted, just internal one
 Reset button
 Zilog Z80 CPU [ ? ]Zilog Z084004PSC CPU
 HC 2000 ROM [ ? ]Intel D27256 EPROM 256K-Bit 250ns Production UV Erasable PROM
 HC 2000 RAMIntersil ICM44C64-80
 FDD ROM [ ? ]Intel D27256 EPROM 256K-Bit 250ns Production UV Erasable PROM
 FDD RAM [ ? ]Hyundai HY6116ALP-10 2048 x 8 Bit CMOS Static RAM
 Floppy Disk controller [ ? ]CM609P 8839, Bulgarian clone of Intel 8272
 ZX Spectrum edge connector [ ? ]

Connecting to a display

Unless you want to use the ICE Felix display or a TV tuner, you can use the RGB video connector from the HC 2000 to convert the signal to VGA (CGA to VGA converter). One that is cheap and easy to use is Gonbes GBS-8220 CGA/EGA/YUV to VGA converter (manual). Besides the converter, you will need a cable with a D-SUB 9 pin male connector at one side, that gets plugged into the HC 2000. The connections should be as following:

  • Red Video to Red Wire (R)
  • Green Video to Green Wire (G)
  • Blue Video to Blue Wire (B)
  • Horizontal Sync to Gray Wire (S)
  • Vertical Sync to Yellow Wire (VS)
  • Ground to Black Wire

Another option is to take Composite Out (pin 7 from the D-Sub DE-9 video connector) and ground (pin 2) and route them to SCART or RCA connectors. If you’re going for a D-Sub DE-9 to RCA cable, pin 2 (DE-9) should go to RCA barrel and pin 7 (DE-9) to RCA central pin. A D-Sub DE-9 to SCART cable should connect pin 2 (DE-9) to pin 17 (SCART) and pin 7 (DE-9) to pin 19 (SCART).

Connecting to a PC using RS232 serial

Create a passive adapter to match the HC serial port pins to PC ones, 9-pin male D-Sub DE-9 connectors are required.

HCPC
1 CTS7 RTS
2 RTS8 CTS
3 RxData3 Tx
4 TxData2 Rx
6 GND5 GND

And use this program to transfer the file(s).

Power Supply Unit

In case the original PSU unit is missing, or damaged, or you dislike having the 2kg brick around your desk, you can replace it with a Cisco 34-0874-01 PSU, provided you feel comfortable soldering the HC connector to it.

The Cisco PSU carries the following voltages and ratings:

  • +5v: 3A
  • +12v: 2A
  • -12v: 0.2A

It has 6 wires within the cable, and the wires are color coded as follows:

Cisco PSU wire colorDescriptionHC pin(s)
BlackTwo wires, both are ground, solder them together2 and 6
Orange+12V4 and 8
Green-12V3 and 7
Red+5V1 and 5
WhiteRemote on/offNot connected
BlueReturn for remote on/off signalNot connected

The white and blue wires must be soldered together in order for the PSU to supply voltage.

Manuals

The manuals are in Romanian for obvious reasons so you’ll need a way to translate them.

Photos

Click on one of the images for a higher resolution photo.

Full package
HC 2000 microcomputer
Front-side of main board
Front-side of another main board
HC 2000 microcomputer with manual and power unit
HC 2000 microcomputer back side
HC 2000 microcomputer front side
Keyboard
Rare HC 2000 with a tape player integrated
External tape recorder for HC 2000, by ICE Felix
Keyboard PCB with Cherry MX switches
Toshiba LR56034 floppy disk drive