Is this a limitation of the JB/pspgroove code, or backup manager?I read people saying there will be an update to psgroove that we wont need to have a disc in drive.But im not sure if thats true or just wishful thinking.My problem is i have a ps3 with a bad laser.Disc's load/eject fine, but dont read.
So as it stands, will need a new drive to play future homebrew?
Im only interested in homebrew so im really in no hurry yet, I just want to know if i should start looking for a deal on a new drive, or wait it out till theres a no disc solution and more homebrew.

No, I am sure other programs will not require the blu-ray drive.

It is a lot like the PSP. Originally, you needed a UMD in the drive to hit the switch in the PSP to "let it know" that there was a disc inside, but instead of reading data off of it, data from the ISO would replace it. This was eventually emulated and the need of a physical disc was no longer required.

Running homebrew itself doesn't run like a game does. It uses files from the hard drive and doesn't need to think it is reading a disc.

Edit:

I guess to sum it up, a game needs to be "emulated" as a physical disc whereas applications use a different method of running.

Yeah after i thought about it for a few minutes , the backup manager is a homebrew app to load backups from hard drive but doesnt need a disc to load the initial loader so my guess is any other homebrew apps wouldnt either.For some reason I was thinking it was part of the JB that was required to load anything be it backups or homebrew.No idea why i thought that.