Are you still going to be able to run Windows VM's on a Mac once they go to Apple-sourced processors instead of Intel?
Currently Windows only runs on Intel/AMD x86 based processors. Apple's new processor will be based on some variation of ARM so as it is today, no. But there is a version of Windows IoT that runs on ARM based processors but it's only available to Windows Insiders (free, only need to register) but Windows IoT doesn't run standard Windows programs so you'd have to write your own serial terminal program for Windows IoT. Windows is moving to be a Linux based core rather than the Win32 based core and so long-term, being able to run a Windows VM on the ARM based Apple processor could be a possibility again.
You can (and should) run Linux on ARM and so you can run a Linux VM on the new Apple ARM based processors (I have 12 Ubuntu based ARM systems within 5 feet of me right now). There are lots of serial terminal programs for Linux available. You can also run Android on ARM but I've never tried to run it in a VM.
If you want to learn Linux, pick up a Raspberry Pi. They're dirt cheap (less than $100 for everything needed on Amazon), about the size of a pack of cards and run on a 5v phone charger. Since they have USB ports, you can use the Eggtimer USB to 4 pin break-out to connect to the Egg products just as if it was a Windows or Mac.