Serial to interface to a program like PuTTY on a computer and then use that as a pseudo-display, does anyone have any recommendations on how to achieve this goal
I'd highly recommend taking Garth up on his suggestion to read his excellent primer at http://wilsonminesco.com/6502primer/. It has everything you will need to know and then some. You will find information on serial interfacing in section 14 (labeled "I/O ICs").
I second Sam's advice. A thorough read of Garth's primer, along with looking at the details of some of the projects posted here, will give you a lot of insight on what is required to get your project off the ground.
Ed said it earlier, but it bears repeating. Avoid the temptation to "go big" with your first design. It's easy to design in a lot of features and inadvertently create something that is too complicated for you to debug when it fails to work, or runs but is unstable. My favorite advice to those just starting out is to learn how to fly a single-engine plane before stepping into the cockpit of a 747 and taking off for Tokyo.
