Newbie here, need help setting up a 3ds to run cia's

ive got an OLD 3DSXL with the fw 6.0.1 or something like that.
whats the best way to go around installing cfw's or whatever?
do i need to downgrade it?
do i just go with rxtools?
does the region free exploit still work ?

im clueless right now but im sure i can do anything that doesn't involve soldering stuff . i dont have access to that ninja game either .
what do i need?

Thanks