002 Control Surface audio outside of Pro Tools?

[colourednoise]

First of all, I apologise if this is the wrong area to post this thread.. I just couldn't fit anywhere else for it to fit in.

I'm considering on buying the 002 control surface, however I'm stumped on a few questions, which I'm hoping you guys might be able to answer?

Currently I work in broadcast & audio production. So I've got a standard analogue mixer to pull and push audio to and from my pc. However I'm moving further and further towards the audio production series now, and I'm considering to place something like the 002 control surface at the side of my current mixer.
Does the 002 show up as an audio device (input via firewire) if so, would this enable me to push audio outside of Pro Tools into my monitors? I would have them sat on one of the 002 output's.

I haven't read much Avid news recently, however I'm getting a distinct impression that they have plans to drop all hardware compatibility, for non HD users once 11 is released.. is this true? If it is, I guess that sort of throws a spanner in the works as I'm currently running 10.

I know the 002 is a little outdated now, but I'm currently on a fine budget as I've setup freelance by myself and times are proving hard.

Thank you.

[albee1952]

I wouldn't recommend it. With Pro Tools 9 or 10, I would look into one of the newer analog mixers with a USB or FW port. The 002 is old(as you mentioned) and not overly reliable either(the old power harness issue). As the centerpiece of your setup, reliability would rank tops on my list