I do NOT understand why this is a true thing, but I do know that it is a true thing. Namely, unless I use this xorg.conf, I get weird hangs during suspend/resume, and my docking station/external monitor thingey doesn’t work right. At some point, when I have all the time in the world, I shall sit down and figure out why this works and why whichever way I configure X through YaST does not. But for now, I post this for posterity and in the odd case that this might help someone else who is stuck using a company-provided Thinkpad T42.
# SaX generated X11 config file
# Created on: 2007-01-18T18:03:48-0500.
#
# Version: 8.1
# Contact: Marcus Schaefer <sax@suse.de>, 2005
# Contact: SaX-User list <https://lists.berlios.de/mailman/listinfo/sax-users>
#
# Automatically generated by [ISaX] (8.1)
# PLEASE DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE!
#Section “Files”
FontPath “/usr/share/fonts/misc:unscaled”
FontPath “/usr/share/fonts/local”
FontPath “/usr/share/fonts/75dpi:unscaled”
FontPath “/usr/share/fonts/100dpi:unscaled”
FontPath “/usr/share/fonts/Type1”
FontPath “/usr/share/fonts/URW”
FontPath “/usr/share/fonts/Speedo”
FontPath “/usr/share/fonts/PEX”
FontPath “/usr/share/fonts/cyrillic”
FontPath “/usr/share/fonts/latin2/misc:unscaled”
FontPath “/usr/share/fonts/latin2/75dpi:unscaled”
FontPath “/usr/share/fonts/latin2/100dpi:unscaled”
FontPath “/usr/share/fonts/latin2/Type1”
FontPath “/usr/share/fonts/latin7/75dpi:unscaled”
FontPath “/usr/share/fonts/baekmuk:unscaled”
FontPath “/usr/share/fonts/japanese:unscaled”
FontPath “/usr/share/fonts/kwintv”
FontPath “/usr/share/fonts/truetype”
FontPath “/usr/share/fonts/uni:unscaled”
FontPath “/usr/share/fonts/CID”
FontPath “/usr/share/fonts/ucs/misc:unscaled”
FontPath “/usr/share/fonts/ucs/75dpi:unscaled”
FontPath “/usr/share/fonts/ucs/100dpi:unscaled”
FontPath “/usr/share/fonts/hellas/misc:unscaled”
FontPath “/usr/share/fonts/hellas/75dpi:unscaled”
FontPath “/usr/share/fonts/hellas/100dpi:unscaled”
FontPath “/usr/share/fonts/hellas/Type1”
FontPath “/usr/share/fonts/misc/sgi:unscaled”
FontPath “/usr/share/fonts/xtest”
FontPath “/opt/kde3/share/fonts”
FontPath “unix/:7100”
InputDevices “/dev/gpmdata”
InputDevices “/dev/input/mice”
EndSectionSection “ServerFlags”
Option “AllowMouseOpenFail” “on”
EndSectionSection “Module”
Load “dbe”
Load “type1”
Load “freetype”
Load “extmod”
Load “glx”
Load “v4l”
Load “dri”
EndSectionSection “InputDevice”
Driver “kbd”
Identifier “Keyboard[0]”
Option “Protocol” “Standard”
Option “XkbLayout” “us”
Option “XkbModel” “pc104”
Option “XkbRules” “xfree86”
EndSectionSection “InputDevice”
Driver “mouse”
Identifier “Mouse[1]”
Option “Buttons” “12”
Option “Device” “/dev/input/mice”
Option “Name” “Logitech USB Receiver”
Option “Protocol” “explorerps/2”
Option “Vendor” “Sysp”
Option “ZAxisMapping” “4 5”
EndSectionSection “InputDevice”
Driver “synaptics”
Identifier “Mouse[3]”
Option “Buttons” “5”
Option “Device” “/dev/input/mice”
Option “Emulate3Buttons” “on”
Option “HorizScrollDelta” “0”
Option “InputFashion” “Mouse”
Option “Name” “Synaptics;Touchpad”
Option “Protocol” “explorerps/2”
Option “SHMConfig” “on”
Option “Vendor” “Sysp”
Option “ZAxisMapping” “4 5”
EndSectionSection “Monitor”
DisplaySize 338 270
HorizSync 29-83
Identifier “Monitor[0]”
ModelName “HP L1706”
Option “DPMS”
VendorName “HWP”
VertRefresh 43-76
UseModes “Modes[0]”
EndSectionSection “Modes”
Identifier “Modes[0]”
Modeline “1024×768” 83.00 1024 1080 1192 1360 768 769 772 803
Modeline “1024×768” 76.89 1024 1080 1192 1360 768 769 772 800
Modeline “1024×768” 70.50 1024 1072 1104 1184 768 771 775 796 +HSync -Vsync
Modeline “1024×768” 70.07 1024 1080 1184 1344 768 769 772 798
Modeline “1024×768” 64.11 1024 1080 1184 1344 768 769 772 795
Modeline “1024×600” 64.04 1024 1080 1184 1344 600 601 604 627
Modeline “1024×600” 58.65 1024 1072 1176 1328 600 601 604 625
Modeline “1024×600” 55.00 1024 1072 1104 1184 600 603 613 622 +HSync -Vsync
Modeline “1024×600” 54.05 1024 1072 1176 1328 600 601 604 623
Modeline “1024×600” 48.96 1024 1064 1168 1312 600 601 604 622
Modeline “800×600” 50.32 800 840 928 1056 600 601 604 627
Modeline “800×600” 45.93 800 840 920 1040 600 601 604 625
Modeline “800×600” 44.75 800 848 880 960 600 603 607 622 +HSync -Vsync
Modeline “800×600” 42.33 800 840 920 1040 600 601 604 623
Modeline “800×600” 38.22 800 832 912 1024 600 601 604 622
Modeline “768×576” 46.12 768 808 888 1008 576 577 580 602
Modeline “768×576” 42.06 768 800 880 992 576 577 580 600
Modeline “768×576” 41.50 768 816 848 928 576 579 583 597 +HSync -Vsync
Modeline “768×576” 38.82 768 800 880 992 576 577 580 599
Modeline “768×576” 34.96 768 792 872 976 576 577 580 597
Modeline “640×480” 31.13 640 664 728 816 480 481 484 502
Modeline “640×480” 29.75 640 688 720 800 480 483 487 498 +HSync -Vsync
Modeline “640×480” 28.83 640 664 728 816 480 481 484 500
Modeline “640×480” 26.60 640 664 728 816 480 481 484 499
Modeline “640×480” 23.86 640 656 720 800 480 481 484 497
EndSectionSection “Screen”
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection “Display”
Depth 15
Modes “1024×768” “1024×600” “800×600” “768×576” “640×480”
EndSubSection
SubSection “Display”
Depth 16
Modes “1024×768” “1024×600” “800×600” “768×576” “640×480”
EndSubSection
SubSection “Display”
Depth 24
Modes “1024×768” “1024×600” “800×600” “768×576” “640×480”
EndSubSection
SubSection “Display”
Depth 32
Modes “1024×768” “1024×600” “800×600” “768×576” “640×480”
EndSubSection
SubSection “Display”
Depth 8
Modes “1024×768” “1024×600” “800×600” “768×576” “640×480”
EndSubSection
Device “Device[0]”
Identifier “Screen[0]”
Monitor “Monitor[0]”
EndSectionSection “Device”
BoardName “Radeon LW”
BusID “1:0:0”
Driver “radeon”
Identifier “Device[0]”
Option “CRT2HSync” “31-48”
Option “CRT2Position” “Clone”
Option “SaXDualOrientation” “LeftOf”
Option “SaXDualResolution” “1024×768”
Option “SaXDualVSync” “50-60”
Option “MetaModes” “1024×768,1024×768;1024×768,1024×768”
Option “CRT2VRefresh” “50-60”
Option “MonitorLayout” “LVDS,CRT”
Option “BIOSHotkeys” “on”
Option “IgnoreEDID” “yes”
Option “MergedFB” “yes”
Option “SaXDualHSync” “31-48”
Option “SaXDualHead” “”
Option “SaXDualMode” “Clone”
Option “SaXDualMonitorModel” “1024X768@60HZ”
Option “SaXDualMonitorVendor” “–> VESA”
VendorName “ATI”
Option “XAANoOffscreenPixmaps” “true”
Option “DRI” “true”
EndSectionSection “ServerLayout”
Identifier “Layout[all]”
InputDevice “Keyboard[0]” “CoreKeyboard”
InputDevice “Mouse[1]” “CorePointer”
InputDevice “Mouse[3]” “SendCoreEvents”
Option “Clone” “off”
Option “Xinerama” “off”
Screen “Screen[0]”
Option “AIGLX” “true”
EndSectionSection “DRI”
Group “video”
Mode 0666
EndSectionSection “Extensions”
Option “Composite” “Enable”
EndSection