I'm going bush for a couple of days so don't expect any more posts from me for a while.

So I have removed openresolve and created up.sh and down.sh as suggested.
Still getting the same issues.
firstly the timeout error
Sat Oct 24 22:06:31 2015 OpenVPN 2.3.6 x86_64-slackware-linux-gnu [SSL (OpenSSL)] [LZO] [EPOLL] [MH] [IPv6] built on Dec 10 2014
Sat Oct 24 22:06:31 2015 library versions: OpenSSL 1.0.1p 9 Jul 2015, LZO 2.03
Sat Oct 24 22:06:31 2015 NOTE: the current --script-security setting may allow this configuration to call user-defined scripts
Sat Oct 24 22:06:31 2015 Socket Buffers: R=[212992->131072] S=[212992->131072]
Sat Oct 24 22:06:31 2015 UDPv4 link local: [undef]
Sat Oct 24 22:06:31 2015 UDPv4 link remote: [AF_INET]178.73.195.108:1199
Sat Oct 24 22:06:31 2015 TLS: Initial packet from [AF_INET]178.73.195.108:1199, sid=a7ecd6bd 7dad8d84
Sat Oct 24 22:06:31 2015 WARNING: this configuration may cache passwords in memory -- use the auth-nocache option to prevent this
Sat Oct 24 22:06:34 2015 VERIFY OK: depth=1, C=SE, ST=QQ, L=FrootTown, O=FrootOrg, OU=changeme, CN=changeme, name=changeme, emailAddress=mail@host.domain
Sat Oct 24 22:06:34 2015 VERIFY OK: nsCertType=SERVER
Sat Oct 24 22:06:34 2015 VERIFY OK: depth=0, C=SE, ST=QQ, L=FrootTown, O=FrootOrg, OU=changeme, CN=server, name=changeme, emailAddress=mail@host.domain
Sat Oct 24 22:06:35 2015 Data Channel Encrypt: Cipher 'BF-CBC' initialized with 128 bit key
Sat Oct 24 22:06:35 2015 Data Channel Encrypt: Using 160 bit message hash 'SHA1' for HMAC authentication
Sat Oct 24 22:06:35 2015 Data Channel Decrypt: Cipher 'BF-CBC' initialized with 128 bit key
Sat Oct 24 22:06:35 2015 Data Channel Decrypt: Using 160 bit message hash 'SHA1' for HMAC authentication
Sat Oct 24 22:06:35 2015 Control Channel: TLSv1, cipher TLSv1/SSLv3 DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA, 2048 bit RSA
Sat Oct 24 22:06:35 2015 [server] Peer Connection Initiated with [AF_INET]178.73.195.108:1199
Sat Oct 24 22:06:37 2015 SENT CONTROL [server]: 'PUSH_REQUEST' (status=1)
Sat Oct 24 22:06:38 2015 PUSH: Received control message: 'PUSH_REPLY,ifconfig-ipv6 2a00:1a28:155a:5::1016/64 2a00:1a28:155a:5::1,dhcp-option DNS 80.67.0.2,dhcp-option DNS 91.213.246.2,redirect-gateway def1,tun-ipv6,route-gateway 178.73.192.161,topology subnet,ping 10,ping-restart 160,ifconfig 178.73.192.184 255.255.255.224'
Sat Oct 24 22:06:38 2015 OPTIONS IMPORT: timers and/or timeouts modified
Sat Oct 24 22:06:38 2015 OPTIONS IMPORT: --ifconfig/up options modified
Sat Oct 24 22:06:38 2015 OPTIONS IMPORT: route options modified
Sat Oct 24 22:06:38 2015 OPTIONS IMPORT: route-related options modified
Sat Oct 24 22:06:38 2015 OPTIONS IMPORT: --ip-win32 and/or --dhcp-option options modified
Sat Oct 24 22:06:38 2015 ROUTE_GATEWAY 192.168.1.254/255.255.255.0 IFACE=eth0 HWADDR=00:1d:7d:af:ec:8e
Sat Oct 24 22:06:38 2015 TUN/TAP device tun0 opened
Sat Oct 24 22:06:38 2015 TUN/TAP TX queue length set to 100
Sat Oct 24 22:06:38 2015 do_ifconfig, tt->ipv6=1, tt->did_ifconfig_ipv6_setup=1
Sat Oct 24 22:06:38 2015 /usr/sbin/ip link set dev tun0 up mtu 1500
Sat Oct 24 22:06:38 2015 /usr/sbin/ip addr add dev tun0 178.73.192.184/27 broadcast 178.73.192.191
Sat Oct 24 22:06:38 2015 /usr/sbin/ip -6 addr add 2a00:1a28:155a:5::1016/64 dev tun0
Sat Oct 24 22:06:38 2015 /etc/openvpn/up.sh tun0 1500 1541 178.73.192.184 255.255.255.224 init
Sat Oct 24 22:06:38 2015 /usr/sbin/ip route add 178.73.195.108/32 via 192.168.1.254
Sat Oct 24 22:06:38 2015 /usr/sbin/ip route add 0.0.0.0/1 via 178.73.192.161
Sat Oct 24 22:06:38 2015 /usr/sbin/ip route add 128.0.0.0/1 via 178.73.192.161
Sat Oct 24 22:06:38 2015 Initialization Sequence Completed
Sat Oct 24 22:22:21 2015 [server] Inactivity timeout (--ping-restart), restarting
Sat Oct 24 22:22:21 2015 SIGUSR1[soft,ping-restart] received, process restarting
Sat Oct 24 22:22:21 2015 Restart pause, 10 second(s)

Sat Oct 24 22:22:39 2015 Initialization Sequence Completed
Sat Oct 24 22:32:51 2015 [server] Inactivity timeout (--ping-restart), restarting
Sat Oct 24 22:32:51 2015 SIGUSR1[soft,ping-restart] received, process restarting

Sun Oct 25 00:01:49 2015 [server] Inactivity timeout (--ping-restart), restarting
Sun Oct 25 00:01:49 2015 SIGUSR1[soft,ping-restart] received, process restarting
Sun Oct 25 00:01:49 2015 Restart pause, 10 second(s)


also a reset problem

Sat Oct 24 22:33:08 2015 Initialization Sequence Completed
Sat Oct 24 23:33:05 2015 TLS: soft reset sec=0 bytes=2296901738/0 pkts=3971461/0

which often happens exactly one hour after starting.

Not to mention things like the .auth file containing a username and password in plain text!

the output from ifconfig is
eth0: flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
inet 192.168.1.100 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast 192.168.1.255
inet6 fe80::21d:7dff:feaf:ec8e prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x20<link>
ether 00:1d:7d:af:ec:8e txqueuelen 1000 (Ethernet)
RX packets 3183699 bytes 3030973972 (2.8 GiB)
RX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 frame 0
TX packets 3813498 bytes 991243694 (945.3 MiB)
TX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 carrier 0 collisions 0

lo: flags=73<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING> mtu 65536
inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 255.0.0.0
inet6 ::1 prefixlen 128 scopeid 0x10<host>
loop txqueuelen 0 (Local Loopback)
RX packets 29975 bytes 1843516 (1.7 MiB)
RX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 frame 0
TX packets 29975 bytes 1843516 (1.7 MiB)
TX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 carrier 0 collisions 0

tun0: flags=4305<UP,POINTOPOINT,RUNNING,NOARP,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
inet 178.73.192.164 netmask 255.255.255.224 destination 178.73.192.164
inet6 2a00:1a28:155a:5::1002 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x0<global>
unspec 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00 txqueuelen 100 (UNSPEC)
RX packets 2512796 bytes 2297205777 (2.1 GiB)
RX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 frame 0
TX packets 3094821 bytes 600373471 (572.5 MiB)
TX errors 0 dropped 205405 overruns 0 carrier 0 collisions 0

the output from route is
Kernel IP routing table
Destination Gateway Genmask Flags Metric Ref Use Iface
default c-178-73-192-16 128.0.0.0 UG 0 0 0 tun0
default 192-168-1-254.t 0.0.0.0 UG 0 0 0 eth0
loopback * 255.0.0.0 U 0 0 0 lo
128.0.0.0 c-178-73-192-16 128.0.0.0 UG 0 0 0 tun0
178.73.192.160 * 255.255.255.224 U 0 0 0 tun0
178.73.195.108 192-168-1-254.t 255.255.255.255 UGH 0 0 0 eth0
192.168.1.0 * 255.255.255.0 U 1 0 0 eth0
192-168-1-100.t localhost 255.255.255.255 UGH 202 0 0 lo

It seems there was as much traffic going through eth0 as there was with tun0 so I am going to try removing my ISP nameserver from resolv.conf.openvpndns

It is perfectly normal that traffic also goes through eth0, however the traffic should be encrypted and exclusively to the VPN server, except when you intentionally want to reach the local LAN (on the 192.168.1.0/24 network), but this is most improbable and you would know about it.

add

to your configuration file. See http://docs.slackware.com/howtos:net...ices:openvpn?s

Is your connection to the Internet stable? Are there any firewalls that might detect your unusual traffic and disconnect you? If you are able to try your client from other Internet connections, do you still get the same problem?

Getting angrier!
I started to post a reply saying things were getting betting when I got a ping-restart message and lost the page I was writing.
I have installed Slk14.1 current on a test partition and used the standard config file provided by frootvpn. That worked for an hour with no problems and then did the TLS soft reset.
I waited about 15 minutes and then closed openvpn and waited again. When I restarted openvpn I got the ping-restart problem again within about 10 minutes.
That was a good test other times I only get about 15 minutes before the ping-restart message all this while downloading a linux dvd so I cannot see how I could be getting some sort of timeout error.

I tried some other vpn suppliers and with ExpressVPN I got a config file that worked and has kept working overnight so I am happy with that.
There is always more than one solution to a computer problem.

I've used the configurations mentioned here and they work fine for me on PIA (VPN).
Slackware64-current