The radeon driver no longer supports UMS. Because of the current PowerPC kernel config (radeonfb is built in) KMS drm cannot be activated. You are falling back to the fbdev driver in 8 bit mode (hence the poor colors).
One way to activate KMS is using the video=ofonly parameter (this disables radeonfb). If this causes freezing then you should combine it with radeon.agpmode=-1 (forces PCI mode). I've said the same thing on this ubuntu forums thread http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2053596 These solutions have also been documented in the PowerPC FAQ for a long time now https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PowerPCFAQ#What_yaboot_parameters_should_I_use_for_graphics_problems.3F and https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PowerPCFAQ#Radeon_cards -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Desktop Packages, which is subscribed to xserver-xorg-video-ati in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1046951 Title: No desktop environment or window manager, just X with the mouse Status in “xserver-xorg-video-ati” package in Ubuntu: Confirmed Bug description: The only thing that the graphical display shows is the mouse pointer. It moves around just fine, thoug the immediate square area surrounding the mouse has bad graphics. Except for the mouse area, the screen is black. ProblemType: Bug DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.10 Package: xorg 1:7.7+1ubuntu3 ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.5.0-13.14-powerpc-smp 3.5.3 Uname: Linux 3.5.0-13-powerpc-smp ppc ApportVersion: 2.5.1-0ubuntu4 Architecture: powerpc Date: Thu Sep 6 20:20:31 2012 InstallationMedia: Lubuntu 12.10 "Quantal Quetzal" - Alpha powerpc (20120904) SourcePackage: xorg UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install) To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xserver-xorg-video-ati/+bug/1046951/+subscriptions -- Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~desktop-packages Post to : desktop-packages@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~desktop-packages More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
