I went to university in Germany a decade ago (for CS) and I had the exact same experience. On the first day we got a usb stick with a linux distro for programmi

I went to university in Germany a decade ago (for CS) and I had the exact same experience. On the first day we got a usb stick with a linux distro for programming assignments and every course was essentially done with the expectation that if you attend the lectures you can pass the exams at the end of the semester. Book recommendations were sometimes given but basically always classic textbooks you can just borrow from the library. I honestly struggle to understand why students would even participate in these textbook extortion rackets.