Configuring the nVidia Display
nVidia makes available one Linux driver that encompasses all its cards. The latest version I downloaded was http://www.nvidia.co.uk/object/linux_display_ia32_1.0-8178_uk.html. I installed it according to the user manual and everything seemed to go smoothly: the installer could not find a pre-compiled module for my kernel version in the package nor on the FTP site, so it built one from scratch (you have to be patient, it takes a minute or two with little feedback). Afterwards, I got the nVidia full-screen logo and X was using my full LCD. This package also installs a configuration utility, nvidia-settings.
There was one slight hitch. When I rebooted (after admittedly playing around with some other configuration settings on the laptop), the Fedora initialization screen came up full-screen but then the login screen (gdm) came up reduced-size again, as did my subsequent sessions and any further reboots. The way I fixed this was by going the “Display” configuration (system-config-display), selecting the one nVidia driver on the list (Geo 2, not Geo 6400), and then changing the resolution back to 1280×800. I then re-did the nVidia installation and this time it seemed to take even after rebooting. I’m not sure why the first install reverted after rebooting.
The documentation says that the driver supports some additional features. Among two that I found interesting (although these particular two seem to be mutually exclusive): TwinView, wherein an external monitor and the LCD both display the same thing, and Fn-key response to switch among various combinations of LCD or external display. For the latter (which I guess subsumes the former), I’m guessing I first need to install the Fn-key response mechanism and then configure the xorg.config file for my external monitor. That will happen in due time.