[SWLUG] vpn for a netbook questions

[bascule]

having been lent a netbook to play with, i've become interested in the idea of 
setting up a vpn between the netbook and my home in order to add some 
security to using the netbook in otherwise unknown wireless environments. i'm 
not sure what to expect from a vpn setup though, i know i can create a tunnel 
to access the network at home, but i'm more interested in being able to route 
the internet through the tunnel, maybe i'm too paranoid about having my 
traffic sniffed but a lot of free wi-fi out there uses no security other than 
a redirect to a web page where you click on a button to promise to be a good 
boy!  i'm aware that bandwith would be limited by routing the internet via my 
home since my own home internet is ordinary cable with it's limitations but 
is this a setup that anyone else has?

i have a router/firewall running ipcop at the moment at home, should i be 
thinking of having this box route the internet through the tunnel or should i 
connect through to an internal box on the home network and have that route 
the internet back to the netbook?

if the vpn to my ipcop box gave my netbook an ip address in the same range as 
my home network would accessing the internet via vpn 'just work'? in which 
case i guess i'm just showing off my ignorance above :)

bascule
-- 
"there's nothing an agnostic can't do if he really doesn't know if he believes
in anything or not" - M.Python