Questions on fluorescent

work for a company that has a stock pile of fluorescent " tomb stones" I guess they are called, and ballasts, bulbs , wires, ect... my question is how do I tell which ballasts and bulbs are good?

And which tomb stones are better the 2 prong twisting ones or the spring loaded one with like one fat prong on the bulb

I prefer the 2 prong.

Going to have to wire them up and stick a bulb in to test if there in working order if you dont know though.

Can i ask why you prefer the 2 prong?

And let's say I wired them and the bulb lights up. I thought that didn't necessarily mean that its " working". Like it's producing light but not the amount of light it should be or something.

And if a ballast says something like 40w t12 can i put a 40w t8 or t5 in there? Assuming the prongs fit.... or are they all different

I like the 2 prong better as I feel the bulbs are more securely held when it's twisted 90*. I don't know if that's valid or not.
T12, T10, T8 all use the same prongs. T5s are smaller.