OK, now what did I do? I had to remotely reboot the computer and now it's not detecting the GPU again. It auto starts kdm, though I have to login locally. Does the X server need to be running to detect/use the GPU?

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-mpyusko

In my experience yes

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With Windows computers there's a problem when you use the built-in remote desktop, that it will use built-in (non-upgradable) drivers, which lack things as OpenGL, OpenCL and CUDA/CAL support for ease of use. As soon as you remote call into such a computer running BOINC, it'll lose the ability to use the CUDA/CAL/OpenCL function, since that's not in the driver. BOINC will only lose that for as long as you're logged in, as soon as you log off, it'll use the GPU again.

Perhaps something like this is happening with Linux as well?

For Windows the work-around is to use something like VNC, which uses the actual driver that's loaded, instead of its own driver.

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Linux and Windows are like apples and oranges. A remote login with Linux is usually done through an SSH connection via a text-based console. When the system boots it starts a SSH server so client computer can connect. X (the GUI) doesn't usually start until a local user has logged in via kdm, gdm, etc... (X can be forwarded via SSH for RDP or other thin-client uses, but it's usually not the norm). System administration is usually done through a SSH console connection because a GUI interface eats up bandwidth and system resources. Also the utilities that are used for system management are usually written for the console first, then sometimes adapted to a GUI usually with reduced features.

It would be nice if there was a way to utilize the GPU without loading X first.

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-mpyusko

Linux and Windows are like apples and oranges.

Then why does everyone want a Windows style GUI, and run all those Windows apps in WINE when they're running Linux? Gotta wonder. :P

Lots of 'usually' in your story. As if it's not the case for your Slackware, or you're not certain.

In any case, for BOINC to be able to use the GPU, it needs to be able to detect the drivers. And while in Windows Remote Desktop it fails to do so because of proprietary drivers, it'll be in Linux because X didn't load. Same thing. Same lack of (vendor) drivers.

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The usually's are because there are exceptions and it would be incorrect to speak in absolutes. If you are a Linux enthusiast, then you would notice how MS has copied parts of X widows based GUI's and incorporated them into Windows. There are also GUIs available for Linux, like "Lindows" and "XPde" that attempt to mimic the windows interface as much as possible to minimize the learning curve and entice people to switch. Wine exists for those users who refuse to spend money on a Windows license but want to use software where a Linux port is not available, for example GAMES! In fact, I keep my computer dual-boot between Win7x64pro and Slackware 13.37, just so I can reboot and play games. The advantage is if I need to be productive, I use Linux, where my games aren't available. And when I game, I use Windows where it's a clean OS environment without the bloat and overhead of productivity software backends, auto-updates and such.

In Linux, the computer can be fully functional without the overhead of a GUI. In windows, you must have a GUI, even if you want it to be a Web,MySQL,PHP server. The benefits running Linux should be rather obvious.... no GUI, more resources available for other things.

There are however benefits to using a GUI with Linux. For example, a guru could create a substantial firewall via the command line. However, for someone who doesn't indulge in network security every day, creating a firewall can be confusing and messy, unless you use a GUI frontend. Also, for things like SAMBA (windows network sharing), SWAT, the GUI configuration tool, is great to setup basic shares. However, there are a lot of options and directions you can go which SWAT cannot provide. That is where the console and command line come in. In the case of updates, Debian apt is a great tool. Two basic console commands can perform updates for all your installed software. There is also aptitude that will let you search for new software via the console, but I fund it clunky (IMHO) compared to the GUI option Synaptic.

Linux is a whole different culture and frame of mind vs. Windows. I read it once somewhere, In windows the goal is to make the best, most feature-rich program, all-in-one kind of solution and sell it for lots of money. In Linux, the goal is to focus on a specific task and make the best program you can, make it free, and make it so other programs can easily use it. I find the latter model to be more efficient because a team/project will focus their time and resources on making one small task. Then they will make it very extensible, compatible and resource efficient. Let someone else make a GUI frontend for it. Then they will focus on making the best, most intuitive GUI for it. Let someone else make the Desktop environment. Then they can focus on either being feature-rich, or minimalist. (Compare KDE and Gnome to Windowmaker and Fluxbox). If you really want to taste Linux, I heartily suggest you try a Live CD distro like Knoppix. and then DSL. Both of them can run off a CD or DVD, cache completely into RAM (if you have enough) and do not even require a hard drive in your computer. (This makes them 100% virusproof.) Knoppix is a full-feature Linux environment with a KDE interface. Focused on fitting on a standard CD or DVD. DSL is a minimalist distro which can run on older hardware, with many of the same features as larger distros, but focused on fitting on one 50MB "Business Card" CD.

I could go on and on about Linux vs. Windows. Both have their place. I just prefer Linux.

But I digress... I guess automatically starting BOINC at boot with CPU only and then a run a restart script at X login to enable GPU computing isn't entirely out-of the question, I just wish there was a way to use the GPU at boot without X running. For instance, with X running BOINC is only using 90% of my GPU. Leaving some resources available for the Desktop Environment. (Honestly, using the GPU all the time, doesn't interfere with me at all. No lag, so skips or jerks.... just smooth operation)

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-mpyusko