Atari Monitor Hookup

I have ordered a BMC monitor and an Atari 800XL. Very recently, I was told that the Atari is designed for use with a standard TV set. How can I make the Atari work with the BMC monitor. Will the monitor be totally useless?

Benedict V. Sulit

Although optimized for use with a television set, the Atari 800XL looks even better on a composite color monitor. You can also hook up a black-and-white (monochrome) monitor. You'll need a special cable that plugs into the round, five-pin DIN plug on the back of your 800XL. For a color monitor, get a cable that feeds the chroma (composite video) signal into Video In on your monitor. For a monochrome screen, you'll get best results using the LUMA (luminance) signal. Some cables bring out all five pins to RCA phono jacks. With trial and error you can easily find which wire controls which signal. You can get a video cable at your local computer store or possibly a TV/video store.