AppleTalk

["Michael Pender" <mpender@hotmail.com>]

I've heard from several people that an AppleTalk connection from a IIgs to a
Mac or a PC (by way of an Appletalk to ethernet connector) will allow a
person to use the second computer as a fileserver.  I'd like to be able to
boot my IIgs from something faster than 3.5" floppy, but I'm not rushing to
spend the money for a SCSI card and external hard drive until I better
understand the AppleTalk option.

I'm looking for a convenient and relatively transparent way to use Appletalk
to share the resources (such as excessively large disk space) of my existing
machines, and I have a few questions for people who have gotten it to work:

Can I boot the IIgs from Appletalk?  If so, what are the limitations?

Does AppleTalk work under Prodos 8, or only under the Finder?  In other
words, under Prodos 8 can I browse the hard drive a my Mac or PC looking for
files?

Is there a convenient way to store DSK files on the second computer (Mac or
PC) and use these as though they were local floppies?

Can a person transfer a file via AppleTalk to the slot 5 ramdisk and use
that like a floppy?

How does the speed of AppleTalk compare to a 3.5" floppy, an IDE slot drive,
or an external SCSI drive?

- Mike