Yeah, good point. I do think having it be simple and text-based feels more believable, for lack of a better word.
It's not quite ready for general consumption, but I have been playing around with text-based puzzles locally and they feel pretty natural. Coincidentally, my long-term plan has always been to ask the player to implement a SIC-1 Assembly compiler on the SIC-1 -- very similar to your terminal suggestion! (Although that particular puzzle probably won't make the next batch -- more likely, it will be in the batch after that.)