In OpenComputers we currently have a simple highly abstracted networking model. We do have ports, thankfully, but besides that the model is highly abstracted and thusly underpowered.
The first suggestion, is remove the abstraction on network communication in the first place. Allow this to be configured in the mod preferences file, but have it enabled by default. By default, there is no “hardware addresses”. A cable is just that, a cable. The only API by the mod is “broadcast and receive”. In the OS provided by the game by default could still have the same API as now. The different is it’d