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DragonFlyBSD's HAMMERFS does much of this - you can examine the version history of files and directories using hammer history and undo commands, and reference versions directly by appending @@ to filenames.

You can control how long history is preserved for and in what level of detail, as well as efficiently replicate it all across the network to remote filesystems (which can have their own, different rules). All this in addition to the more traditional named snapshots approach you're limited to with, e.g. ZFS.

https://www.dragonflybsd.org/d...

After my Linksys started dying on a regular basis, I repurposed an old laptop that had been sitting untouched for years into an OpenBSD router. After fiddling with it for a while to get the settings correct, I switched out my old Linksys and haven't had so much as a hiccup since then. The 26 days uptime is ~19 more than my average with the crappy old Linksys, at the cost of a bit more power consumption. At some point I may upgrade my hardware to something lower-power, but so far I'm calling my experiment a sucess.

The hardware is easy:
Either get a router that you can add DD-WRT/tomato to or build your own PC.

Software answer:
OS = OpenBSD
VPN = OpenVPN

BUT you are not asking the right questions.
VPN's only work when 2 ends connect. So what VPN server/client will the other end of your connection use? What are you actually trying to do? Does your work have a fat-connection that they will let you use? Are you planning on paying for VPN service from a 3rd party? Do you want to create a VPN between your home and your laptop while you travel?

If you want to build yourself a solid, dependable, 'solution' follow this guide:

http://www.bsdnow.tv/tutorials...

Yes, really. Here I provide you a summary of some regular release dates:

Gnome - March (version number increases by .2)
Ubuntu - towards end of April (LTS if this is an even-numbered year)
OpenBSD - May 1st (or, historically and occasionally, May 19th)
GNOME - September (version number increases by .2)
Ubuntu - towards end of October (hence why version numbers end with "10", it is the 10th month)
OpenBSD - November 1st

Firefox: New release every whenever-they-feel-like-it not-very-long
Debian: New release every whenever-they-feel-like-it yes-very-long

I'm sure there are other projects with regular schedules... I'd appreciate any reply comments about other major projects with known regular release dates.

Some notes related to Ubuntu:
Ubuntu has a history of releasing very 6 months. Mark Shuttleworth of Canonical (who releases Ubuntu) has expressed desire to synchronize with other projects:
Mark Shuttleworth: The Art of Release
More recently, he may have drunk some of Mozilla's Kool Aid, though
Mark Shuttleworth: Let's Go Faster...
discusses possibly turning Ubuntu into a "rolling release" cycle.

Anyway, getting back to OpenBSD, Theo seems quite dedicated to releasing the software when it is expected, and describes it as a result of their carefully controlled development process. (Even before their semi-annual release schedule, they had an annual release on December 1st. So, when they did change their schedule to release on November 1st, they were ahead of their old schedule.) So, they have demonstrated that they are carefully able to release on time. Slashdot Article on OpenBSD release process, Discussion on OpenBSD release cycle. Development is also discussed in the video at BSDNow.tv: Doing It de Raadt Way (which interviews de Raadt starting about 8min7sec into the show).

So, they stick to their schedule well. But why a semi-annual schedule? In Kernel Trap interview with Theo, Theo says, "We have a six month cycle for many reasons. First off, and most important to me personally, it is just the right length so that I do not kill myself."

If you want to roll your own, there's a great OpenBSD router tutorial. If you're not comfortable with commandline configuration, pfSense is a really great option for old PCs with a few NICs.

You can build your own router, there are many options to do so. Choice exist in software (openbsd, pfsense, dd-wrt, openwrt, debian) and hardware (Soekris, Alix, etc) Here is one example:
http://www.bsdnow.tv/tutorials/openbsd-router

From there it is dead simple to block sites and networks you don't want your TV accessing.

You can build your own router, there are many options to do so. Choice exist in software (openbsd, pfsense, dd-wrt, openwrt, debian) and hardware (Soekris, Alix, etc) Here is one example:
http://www.bsdnow.tv/tutorials/openbsd-router

From there it is dead simple to block sites and networks you don't want your TV accessing.