Buying a PSP Soon

I'm looking to buy a PSP in the near future for the sole purpose of working with homebrew applications. As such, I have a few questions, and would be much obliged if you guys could fill me in.
I've spent several hours reading forum posts on this site and others, and it appears that the steps necessary to enable homebrew use are very, very different among the various firmware versions.
Q1. Is there any way that I can tell by looking at the box....ie, before shelling out the $200, what firmware version is on a particular psp?
Q2. If not, does anyone have a good idea of what firmware version I would be most likely to get if I went to a normal store and bought a psp soon?
Q3. Are there any firmware versions or PSP models which would prevent me from being able to do homebrew? I assume if firmware 3.11 comes included, that would be a problem. Any other conditions?
I've read several older postings which comment at problems with motherboard revisions and firmware downgrading.
Q4. Is which motherboard my PSP uses still a problem for downgrading? If so, under what conditions?
I noticed that the 3.03 downgrader requires GTA:LCS to work. As I do not find the GTA series at all entertaining, this would simply be an additional cost to getting a PSP to work with homebrew. So...
Q5. Is LCS required for all downgrading? Some downgrades? Which firmware versions can be modified to work with homebrew only by forking over cash for this game I'm not going to play?
I noticed that some software on this and other sites is compatible with firmwares 1.5 or 1.0 only.
Q6 Are DAX's custom firmwares, such as 3.03-oe considered 1.5 compatable?
Q7 Are 2.7x HEN-enabled setups not 1.0 or 1.5 compatable?
I've heard rumors of the impending release of a "slimmer, faster" psp from Sony.
Q8. Any truth to this? Would this be a reason to wait to buy a PSP, in order to get one of the new machines?
Any other random advice for how I should proceed?
Much thanks!

On that note, to Wal-Mart I go. Thank you for the info and the quick reply!

Heh, if it doesn't work out, the worst that happens is that I brave Wal-Mart's customer service desk...which is probably more difficult than homebrew...but whatever.

Okay, got it. Ended up going to BestBuy to avoid purchasing the entertainment pack, but whatever.
Its 2.71. Is this the same as 2.71SE? How do I find the TA-XX number?
And...what's the first step? Downgrading? HEN? Something else?
Thanks!

Got it. According to the tutorial, its an 82 if has IC003 on the motherboard, and mine does. I'm guessing I want to downgrade to 1.5 and then back up to one of Dax's more current current opened versions. How do I do that?


On a side note..if I do downgrade and then re-upgrade with opened editions, will my firmware still be considered 1.5 for the purposes of homebrew version comatability? aka, to use a version of Daedalus, which I'd REALLY like to get working.


I installed eloader and got an NES emulator working and an SNES emulator (kind of) working. Daedalus crashes...because I don't have the right firmware?

Can't wait to get this versioning settled so that I can start coding.

What are the advantages of downgrading over working with 2.71?

Ah, and if I downgrade, can I expect the slowdowns that some other threads have mentioned?

Thanks again for all the help.

Hah, no problem with the links, I'll find it.
I actually already found the 2.71 downgrade link, and downgraded. No sweat, except for once I finished the process my first two reboots gave me audio but no video...third reboot, everything's working like a charm, 1.5 firmware. I'll look for the dax 3.03 tutorial next. Any chance of a 3.1 tutorial coming out soon? Also, once I upgrade to the custom firmware, will re-downgrading, or upgrading to another custom firmware, be a problem?

Done and done, on 3.03OEC. Two last questions. I read another help post which said that to fix some problems the 1.5 kernel needed to be used...and thereby I discovered the recovery mode. Is there an in-depth howto on all its features? Also, do homebrews need to be run in 1.5 kernel mode? Thanks again for all the help. Once I start coding for this, I'm in your debt, if you want anything written, or help with anything.

Edit...oh crap. I removed the SCE logo in recovery mode...and now, holding down the right trigger doesn't enter recovery mode any more...advice?
Woot, figured out how to get recovery mode back.

And this I should have mentioned in the first place....do I use eloader like I did with 2.71? Hen?

Boo, all of this and the n64 emu freezes. Lame. Oh well, that's just one of a myriad of things I'm planning to do. Thanks again!

Final Fantasy VII, what?