Ext3?

["Josh Rehman" <java.josh@verizon.net>]

Hello,

I'm contemplating a switch to Debian 3.0 from Mandrake 8.2, but I am
hesitant because it appears that the 2.4 kernel is not supported by
default and hence, IIRC, ext3 is not supported. IMHO ext3 is the best
thing since sliced bread - no more unrecoverable fsck errors - and it's
a pity that Debian doesn't support it out of the box.

There is no mention of ext3 at this location:
http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/i386/ch-partitioning.en.html

So I have two questions:
1 - WHY don't the Debian powers-that-be consider the 2.4 kernel 'mature
enough' for Debian 3.0?
2 - HOW can I install Debian 3.0 with a 2.4 kernel and an ext3
filesystem?

With kind regards,
Josh Rehman, Linux-Guru Wannabe (LGW)