Cross Platform Query and a coment (longish)

[you@somehost.somedomain (pilgrimer)]

I have been working on some cross-platform experiments and have a question or 
two but first an observation if I may:

Way back in "the day",  I remember reading in the computer magazines 
(regardless of platform) about "Great Geek God  X" (fill in name du jour here) 
who was given the latest machine, card, software, add-on, peripheral, etc. by 
the manufacturers/Developers to play with.  You would read of tens of 
thousands of dollars worth of gadgets that this person was given gratis to 
tinker with then to pen some so-so review of.  I used to envy those guys in 
that I could not even afford a base machine back then.  I only got to play 
with the school machines and later with my company's systems.
I would dream of Grappler and Slinky cards on the II, or similar things on the 
Commodore and PC.  I was not particular about platform.

Back then I used to read those articles and think: "Yeah, so a Grappler works 
with a Epson printer but what about a..." In other words, those guys never did 
quite get it right.  They would never set up their box the way MY system was 
working, or the way I would do it.  
To this day on either the Mac or the PC side of the game you read about the 
latest Hundred and thirty dollar opsys, or thousands dollar box or hundreds 
dollars gadget, and those guys are still writing the "If I hook this Nveda or 
ATI vid monster to my mondo Bus mega-mobo"  articles and still don't quite 
"get it" .  Those of us out here in the real world STILL can't afford the 
latest and greatest combo.  
And we would STILL do it differently then the paid hacks of the major 
publishers.
That is why I like the world of retro-computing.   FINALLY I can afford a 
gadget, or seven.  Finally I can try that experiment with a Super Serial Card 
I always wanted to try, and, if I happen to fry it, well, they ain't that 
pricey now to replace�
And now my question:

 I am experimenting with some Cross-platform computing .

 Specifically:  I have a Apple IIe<>IIGS upgrade with a PC Transporter card, 2 
360k Trans-drives and a 3.5 Apple plugged in.  The upgrade is a preferred box 
to a standard IIGS for this  in that the IIe case allows for more room for 
really long cards like the PCT or a Z-80 Star Card (which this also has)   
This beast has other bells and whistles too but for what I am trying this 
description will do.

   I also have a 386 PC with a Diamond Trackstar attached.  It has a Apple 
(well Lobo) CGR drive, a 360k MFM A:> and a 1.4 B:  (and about 200 megs of  
IDE C:    See where I am going with this?  ;) 
I can format a 360k Floppy in ProDOS on the PCT, or (due to a read only FST) I 
can see 360K MSDOS  floppies on the Transdrives.    On the Trackstar side, I 
can create Trackstore (*.app) files on a 360k floppy  but I cannot seem to 
read/write to a 360K ProDOS disk.
Now the question:

Can I read/write ProDOS on a  Diamond Trackstar on the PC A: drive (not the 
attached Apple 140k CGR) somehow and not as Trackstore disks(?) but directly? 
 I think what I require for this is the missing ribbon wire attachment that 
connects the OTHER floppy pin-set on the trackstore to the 360k drive (and if 
anyone has one of these they are not using, or knows the pens-set for one I 
would LOVE to talk to you!) or, alternately can I read write ProDOS and 
Basic.System directly and readably in MFM MSDOS format  on that floppy and 
have a bootable or readable MSDOS disk useable on the PC Transporter? Bootable 
will be problematic in that the PCT drives do not seem to be viewable  in 
ProDOS.  Next I am going to try a bare bones GS/OS 5.0.4  to see if THAT is 
readable from here.  (GODS I love tinkering!  ;)

Alternately, does anyone know of any work done on a read/WRITE MSDOS FST for 
the GS?  If I could write Apple II files   to a MSDOS  format on the PCT it 
would  be another way to do this.   
Yes yes, I KNOW there are other solutions for cross platform: networking, 
(Appletalk, COPS Talk, TOPS, Netatalk),  null modem, ADT dsk transfer,  and 
other solutions, I have done all those.    

If anyone else has been experimenting along similar lines and would like to 
discuss,   I am at your disposal.
-Bart