Someone emailed me this question and the reply will be of general interest: I don't believe that there's that much history discussed in the lectures (happy to hear others' opinions, too), just some mostly in Lectures 1 and 3. But I feel a bit of historic context is important, if it explains 'how we got here', and that contemporary OS concepts are not just new ideas but are the result of a slow evolution of ideas, supported by often rapid growth in resources. I feel it's better to know a bit about *why* something exists, rather than just the fact that it *does* exist. While the exact format of this year's final exam has not yet been decided, you can find many past exam papers from OneSearch on the Library website, using the keyword 'CITS2002'.