I took a second (third, whatever) look at how to get 3D acceleration enabled with the TravelMate, and finally found the clue to avoiding a display lockup the moment an OpenGL application was started.
Fedora 7 will not support it as-is. You'll need at least kernel 2.6.22.1 (2.6.22.4 is now in updates) and Mesa 6.5.3. I found it easiest to install Richard Hughes' "Utopia" builds of mesa-libGL and libdrm and a rebuilt fc8 xorg-x11-drv-i810. With these three packages, DRI can now be enabled and the machine is stable. Performance isn't stellar, but it's plenty enough to enjoy compiz and a slightly blinged up desktop, which is essentially what I was looking for, anyway. Ready-made binary attached. Remember, you need to update the kernel and drm bits too with the linked stuff.