Tunisian Theories

I'm not one to go by the rules. I love tunisian crochet, and I am willing to experiment with it. So I've experimented with how to cast on, and I'm experimenting with stitch combinations for a project.

I'm quite annoyed by pulling up threads from a foundation chain. I can never seem to get it quite right, it doesn't have a pleasant effect, even when I use a larger hook to create the chain. Even though I'm not a knitter, I use knit cast-ons to start my tunisian projects, and it works quite well.

Here's cast-on options that actually work on both tunisian and double-ended hooks, each with different properties:

Crochet chain cast-on: This is the usual method. I don't like this one, most of the time.
Knit cast-on: Use a second smaller crochet hook to make stitches and move them to the tunisian hook.
Cable cast-on: Similar to a knit cast-on, use a second smaller hook to help.
Single cast-on: Using half-hitches to add loops to the hook loosely, then work them off with a regular return-row. May have to hunt for the vertical threads a little. Too easy to screw it up, can be difficult for the next row because the loops can vary in give and it's easy to make them uneven.
Double cast-on (long-tail cast-on: I love this one, but requires leaving a "Tail" long enough to cast the number of stitches required, so can be tricky.
German twisted cast-on: This works rather well, too. It's a modification of the double cast-on.

These knit cast-on methods I have not tried yet:

Chain cast-on: ?
Provisional cast-on: Haven't tried this one yet.
Tubular cast-on: Haven't tried yet, but doesn't sound promising.
Double needle cast-on: Haven't tried.
Braided cast-on: ?

Another thing I'm working out is how to make a "real" rib stitch. A few suggested methods of rib stitches are:

Recommended: Create horizontal ribbing using a double-ended hook and 2 separate balls of yarn, work return pass + tks forward, turn work & work with second ball a return pass + tks forward. [Can make do with 1 ball of yarn & afghan hook: do 1 row tks, 1 row reverse tks, but easier with 2 balls & reversing the work rather than the stitch.] This makes a very condensed and stretchy thick ribbing.
Alternating rows of tss and twtss (tunisian simple stitch and tunisian twisted simple stitches) - this may replicate the look, but not the texture or stretch of knit ribbing.
Alternating rows of tks and tps (tunisian knit stitch and tunisian purl stitch) - this is closer to the texture and stretch of ribbing but not as good as the 2-way tks.