[Pre-Noob] How does all this homebrew stuff work?

Hello everyone!
First of all, hello, I'm new. :D
Second, my PSP hasn't arrived yet, that's why I posted Pre-Noob...
Now... One of the reasons I wanted my PSP was to run homebrew (I'm a programmer, and I want to make PSP games someday... :p ), but I see all these stuff about the firmware not allowing you to and stuff... Can someone please tell me which firmware I should get? Will I need any hacks or exploits or something? And is there a list of games that force you to upgrade to a non-HB-allowing firmware? Thanks in advance! ;)

Get version 1.50 which has the most homebrew and is most widely used. 1.00 is the first firmware but not alot of homebrew (like DevHook firmware emulator which can run UMD's that require 2.71) run on it.

Oohh... Alright! Hey, I forgot to ask, there's people saying that running homebrew can permanently break your PSP... :( How does this happen, and how can I prevent it? Thanks! ;)

What firmware psp do you have coming,as there are several restrictions(not for long though).?
First you need to make sure you don't have a ta-082 motherboard,downgrader for this motherboard is still in preliminary stages and has not seen a public release yet.
second you cannot currently downgrade 2.7,2.71 or 2.8 firmware.
any psp version up to 2.6 can be downgraded to a 1.5 for running homebrew.

To avoid homebrew from bricking the psp make sure you download from respectable,tried and true sites.
Only cases of bricking I've seen were from improper downgrading and flashing customizations to the firmware(mostly font and gameboot bricking)
Don't get me wrong I've customized the crap out of mine,but tried to stay within safer areas.

Ohh... Alright, I'll check whenever it comes to see what firmware and motherboard it has. Thanks! ;)

no problem,anytime:)
You know how to check the motherboard?

Not really... How do you do it? :p

You open your UMD drive and look into the top right corner where theres some green. If there's writing there, then its a TA-082 otherboard. ;)

Oh, OK, thanks! :D

Your welcome. And if it is a TA-082, you can't downgrade- yet. Sorry.