New Install - Ethernet network not visible

Basically oonce ihad internet via the dongle, I ran update, upgrade and removed r8169.
I installed r8168 from this file - r8168_8.053.00.orig.tar.bz2
That got it working. I'm not sure if future update and upgrade will break the connection so I am not using it even though it is working. I am happy with using the dongle as long as everything runs smoothly.
 
I would probably use the onboard NIC/s without the adapter, (that mini PC is built for power economy - the adapter adds watts), even if it breaks on an update - you can always plug back in the adapter & fix.
 
Interesting. Ok, I will need to figure out how to do that. Hopefully, it will not break the VMs and LXCs that I have setup.