VintagePete

I use the Monitor output from the XL providing Composite video + mono Audio RCA jacks, which will work on any modern HDTV and even some LCD monitors. If money is no object, the 24" Dell UltraSharp monitor ($500+) comes with every input imaginable, including composite in. You can toggle between your PC and the Atari, or see both outputs side by side via Picture-In-Picture. Pricey but a great monitor: http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=bsd&cs=04&sku=320-8277&baynote_bnrank=1&baynote_irrank=0&~ck=baynoteSearch

Howdy. I'm a recent arrival @ AA myself, but I would be be surprised if the XEGS remained the only Atari in your collection for long. It seems most members here have several, if not dozens of A8 machines! I have one in my home office, tethered to the PC via SIO2PC, readily available for tinkering. But now we also have a machine in the living room hooked up to the big HDTV & audio receiver, and for the fun of it I recently installed another one at the office (to bemuse the Generation Y kids). For those situations, I've found the Maxflash carts the best solution. Not the cheapest route but I've found the Atarimax products extremely well done and reliable. Enjoy the ride

A desoldering gun (with an integrated suction pump) makes all the difference, if you're willing to make a bit of investment. For example, the Hakko 808 works great; it's soldering that's tricky for me sometimes

Good to hear these work. I have the serial port version of SIO2PC too, so I used an internal PCI serial card (Syba SD-LP-MCD1S) to get it working. So far it's been problem free. (No good for a laptop though!)

There are good number of Atari T-Shirts on eBay, in many a color too. The Lemon Amiga site has some cool retro designs, like this one (okay, it's almost Atari )