LOL, yes the shrieking modem!! Or using a 10 inch television and a tape player to load the program??? boy, that takes me waaayyyy back. Mine was an Exidy Sorcerer which cost $800 (a small fortune at the time). Running space invaders. My 5 year old son would sneak out of bed at night and turn it on to play when we were asleep.....
I don't miss the unreliability though......seems like the darn thing was in the shop more than not, or the constant rebooting to keep it running.....