Focus assist light on Digital Rebel

Does the Digital Rebel use the red focus assist light on Speedlites when they are mounted on it ? In particular, the 420EX ?

Also, I've read in some places that only the 550EX works with E-TTL on this camera, while in other places, both the 420EX and 550EX are stated to work this way. Which is correct.

Finally, some people have said that you can use the focus assist light on the 420 and 550, when they are mounted on Canon DSLRs, without actually firing the flash when you take the photo. Is this feature possible on the Digital Rebel, and how do you achieve this ? Is it documented in the manual ? If so, I'll just look there next week when mine arrives.

Well, nobody seemed to answer my question, so I guess I'll just answer it myself ! My 300D arrived last night.

1) Yes, it does use the focus assist light on Speedlites
2) Yes, it is E-TTL, both with Speedlites and the on-board flash
3) I haven't worked that one out yet