Next Level Minecraft Software

[PNWMan]

someone who has absolutely ZERO knowledge concerning computer technicalities could operate perfectly.

Hopefully you will have some kind of guide, whether on a forum or a book in a chest or something to explain how to operate the machine, because even very intuitive real life OSs still have guides that show all of the features and whatnot.

a kind of BIOS/bootstrapping program will run from ROM to start up the OS in the instruction RAM, and you're off. All of this software will be stored in a 2 Kibibyte (2048 byte) piston tape hard drive modified for speedy access (for a piston tape). Along with this massive hard drive, there will be 128 lines of RAM for programs to run off of, and 128 lines of data RAM for those programs to manipulate.

 BIOS will be stored on a 2 kib harddrive, which then gets put into how much instruction RAM? If it's also 2 kib, there is no point in the harddrive as you might as well just keep it all in the RAM, and if the RAM is less than 2kib, then you will need some sort of way to store only parts of the OS that are being used in RAM, which might be very tricky and not worth it. Also, what I got out of this is that there is an additional 128 lines of RAM for prog, and 128 lines of RAM for data, both separate from the OS instruction RAM? Is that correct? Even if my details are off, that makes for a lot of computing space and power and I'd love to see what this machine could do... hopefully you have good ALU operations.

Sapia II is not pipelined, so I don't think i'll be able to get the clock speed under 20 ticks.

For something of this size, you may seriously want to consider spending a few hours pipelining it, at least to a moderate degree, because with the kinds of software you are planning, even though you mentioned it would inherently take a long time, you try to minimize that time. I'm not expecting some crazy 5-tick speedrunner, but do your best to get it under 20 ticks.

It could easily sport a basic GUI for selection pages, and display text and graphs on the same screen.

Hmm... you may want to reconsider putting text on the graphics screen, as, first of all, text can be made with 1x2 block pixels while graphics must be 2x2 blocks (I know 1x1 block screens exist now, but if you want speed/compactness, it must be 2x2 blocks). Second of all, you would need some software/hardware to figure out where the text goes in relation to the graphics, which may or may not be quite a task, but it's probably just not worth it. I would consider having a graphics screen and a text screen: Although not as integrated, it would not be too huge of a drawback (Most CPUs don't have either, so just having 1 already puts you ahead), and it would be easier to make and likely less buggy.

A multi-user OS (multiple users can have separate accounts, and have their own files), a virus-detection program along with the file-downloading program

I think the multi-user OS may be a bit overboard, but it would definitely be possible with a project of this size. A file downloading program that connects to intOREnet really tickles me and I'd love to see this! However, I wouldn't bother with an antivirus program. Think about it: real life antivirus must inspect nearly every packet that comes in; nearly every executable, and so many other factors (which would suck up a CRAPTON of your OS memory, program/data memory, and CPU time), and yet there are STILL dozens of vulnerabilities which must be constantly updated (thus sucking up more memory). No matter what kind of antivirus you create on your computer, there will always be a vulnerability that renders it ineffective, and even if you do manage to create one that catches every threat, it would likely prevent legitimate content as well, and take up your entire OS/prog/data memory and nearly all of your CPU time. I'd say that safety relies on the user's own discretion. And keep backups. There will likely be something other than a virus someone wrote (your own programming mistake) that causes a problem. I'm not entirely familiar with your system, but what is the worst that a virus could possibly do?

I think this is a really cool project, but also a big one. Don't let things get in your way, and don't be too afraid to compromise (although do your best to work out a solution). You'll likely face huge roadblocks, but just allot yourself a few hours (or a day) to resolve it, and while it may suck to find/fix the mistake, in the end, when you overcome that obstacle, you will feel a great sense of accomplishment (not to mention the feeling when the whole thing is completed!). I find that keeping a record, preferably handwritten/drawn, maybe with some computer-aided graphs/charts, keeps me organized. You will find a lot of places where you will have to decide between 2 or 3 things, but writing everything down will help you make your decision, and writing down your decision along with why you chose that will likely help you in the future. Stay determined, don't allow setbacks/compromises to deter you, and don't be too ashamed if something doesn't work out the way you intended. This is a great project and I hope you can stay sane while making it!