I would have thought so but i don't really kno much about the PS2 scene really, try askin at a one of the PS2 boards it may be more helpful, and this should be in other consoles.
No. Well as far as I'm aware you don't, its just an ftp client to transfer game images to a HDD in the ps2, through a BBA. You do need HDAdvance or similar to boot the images though.