Brewology

So, after reading several of the posts on homebrew, I have a couple of obviously noobish questions... I'm very new to psp emulation, or to the psp in general

1) Do you need to have fw 2.71 to run the newest (0.46?) devhook? Or will it run on any firmware right away, such as in my 1.52?
2) If you do need 2.71, then the only way to get dh installed is through the gta exploit or the TIFF exploit?
3) if 2) == false, then how exactly do you install devhook? I've seen several references to "install devhook", but no noob-fied guide on how to do so! Can I install it by just running the ultimate installer? Is it really that simple?
4) If it is that simple, then uninstalling it (by removing the folders from the memory stick???) will just revert the psp to the original factory state?
5) Since devhook allows for emulation of any of the fw released by sony, can you change the emulated firmware on the fly? Or do you have to reinstall devhook to select a different fw? Is there even any reason/advantage to do so (other then running 2.0 + fw without actually installing the fw on the psp)?
6) What is the average airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?

Lots of thanks to everyone for putting up such a great site!

Thanks, that does explain things better. I guess the next question is, can I downgrade without flashing (nervous shudder)??? How risky/easy/doable is it? I'd hate to brick my psp (I just barely bought it!!!).
What would happen, for example, if after I downgrade to 1.5, some game (GTA) decides to upgrade my fw to 2.8 or whatever...? Would I just have to downgrade again?

hey, to answer your question, how risky is it? how easy and how do-able? well upgrade to 2.71 and then downgrade as 2.71 is the easiest and most safe way that i know of. but it might take you a few tries to get to to downgrade.

as for games that need higher firmwares just use devhook to emulate them, the update will still pop up for some games, but as long as u dont click them ( ive never tried) i think you should be fine and still be able to play games thats require higher firmware