IANE on linux but have been running a minimal ubuntu 17 server which is cpu only for boinc. It has been working fine for what I needed. I added boinc and attached the project manager using command line tools.

I want to add a GPU to this system and was looking at the FAQ that skygiven provided for installing ubuntu 16. At step 3 there are no suggestions for what to load ie: minimal server, etc. There are a lot of options listed on the CD ISO I downloaded.

I added GNOME but nothing showed up probably because minimal server needs more than that for a graphical environment.

How do I upgrade to graphics environment so the GPU can run? Alternatively, maybe I should just reinstall and select a better set of modules. If so, I can provide a photo of the selections available - there are a lot and I do not know what to select.

Thanks for looking!

OK, got CUDA working w/o having to switch to graphical environment. I did not follow your suggestions exactly as I did not remember what the distro was or where I got it.

Went to nvidia site and looked at their docs.

Did sudo upgrade and updates and did that
install gcc
followed by install build-essentials (probably should have done this first)

Downloaded cuda 9 from nvidia to a USB chip on a win10 system. Mounted the USB

sudo sh cuda_9xxxx.run only partially worked.

nVidia's log advised that i had to reboot as they had blacklisted something. It also advised it didnt like the gcc compiler I installed and requested me to add
--override to the install command

l did the override and rebooted and boinc recognized the gtx670 I added.
Registered with Einstein at home and got my first cuda app running.

Thank you and I hope this helps others.

Have another problem, my fault as usual. I mistakenly allowed updates. One of the updates (I assume) caused the nvidia board not to be recognized. Boinc runs but only the CPU tasks are enabled. I tried re installing the nvidia drivers but that had no effect. Unaccountably, I cannot boot directly into ubuntu. Have to select the recovery boot. Booting directly into ubuntu sits at a blank screen. CTRL-ALT-DEL excapes to the ubuntu purple display but the system then reboots. I think that noveau driver is trying to run and since it is blacklisted it wont run. That is just a guess. Doing the recovery works and I can log in but the nevidia board is not enabled.

I disconnected the hard disk and will reinstall into a 32gb flash. Once minimal server is working I will transfer the boinc files from the hard drive to the flash