Are you talking about laptops only?
On a desktop system with intel integrated HD graphics, it should definitely be possible to use the intel graphics as the display while using the CUDA GPU for compute.
This will require that the system BIOS allow the integrated graphics to be enabled even if an extra GPU (the CUDA GPU) is plugged in. Some system BIOSes automatically detect the presence of a VGA device in the add in card slot and automatically disable the integrated GPU.
For optimus laptops, the situation is more complicated, and it may not be possible to use the devices separately, depending on the laptop design.
If you leave the NVIDIA GPU out of the desktop system while setting up linux, and can set up a functional display on the integrated graphics, then power down the system and add the NVIDIA GPU.
If, when you power up the system, things are still working normally with your display, and you can see both devices with lspci, then there’s a good chance you can use both.
When installing the NVIDIA display driver, be sure to:
- not install the openGL libs (there are command line options with driver runfile installers or CUDA runfile installers to allow this)
- make sure not to make any changes to the xorg.conf configuration.