[opensuse] Missing vfat fle System

The subject line pretty much says it all. When i try to transfer data from my Windows XP laptop to my OpenSuSE Linux desktop via a thumb drive, I get the message: Cannot mount volume. The volume uses the vfat file system which is not supported by your system. According to google, support for the vfat file system has been a part of the Linux kernel since 1.3.93. Why isn't it on my 11.0 system (kernel: 2.6.25.9-0.2-default)? More to the point, how do I get it back on my system? Can anyone shed any light on what may be happening here? I'd appreciate any insights. -- Don Henson