I was skeptical of this unit after reading the somewhat lukewarm reviews on this site and others. However, I have had a fair bit of experience with KVMs (smaller Belkin and IOGear products all the way up to big fancy Avocent OSD models) and I'm generally pretty pleased with StarTech so I figured I'd take the plunge and I'm glad I did.The unit it somewhat larger than similar models but it's case is constructed from steel or some other metal and doesn't feel flimsy which is a definite plus. Also, being a little on the larger size makes it much less painful to manage what can otherwise be an untameable octopus of cables that is often associated with KVMs.Included with the unit is only the KVM itself, manuals and software, and an AC adapter for power. Fortunatley, I was able to pull everything but one DVI cable out of my computer bone-yard so there wasn't much additional expense. However, if you do not have ready access to such a quantity of surplus hardware, you will need to purchase the cables for connecting the remotes (the two computers to be controlled) to the KVM.Specifically:2 x DVI male-to-male single- or dual-link extension cable2 x HD15 male-to-male analog video extension cable2 x USB-A to USB-B cable for the keyboard/mouse/USB hub signal2 x 3.5mm microphone/speaker cablesAll of that is in addition to what you are currently using for your monitors, keyboard, mouse, etc. as all of that will be connected to the host or input side of the KVM. Also note, I am not using the audio portion of the KVM so it remains untested but that seems like pretty basic functionality so I doubt it's a problem.I'm using a very simple Dell 104 key standard keyboard and haven't had any of the troubles some of the other reviewers have reported when using lighted, wireless, or otherwise "enhanced" keyboards full of additional functionality. For what it's worth, my regular ol' keyboard and three-button mouse work great.As for hook-up/install, it couldn't have been easier. Making all the connections go where they are supposed to takes a little time just because you're dealing with so many cables but, once I got everything where it's supposed to go, it fired right up.In case it's helpful, the two computers I'm using it with are as follows:Dell Optiplex 380 (with video splitter dongle) running Windows 7 Professional (32-bit) service pack 1Dell Dimension 8400 with a dual-display after market nVidia video card running Ubuntu 10.10I did have to install some additional nVidia software to get Ubuntu going but it wasn't any particular hassle.The long and the short of it is, I'm really quite pleased with this KVM. The software, while not required, adds some functionality which is pretty handy and everything has been working as I'd expect since I installed it. If you don't see any updates to this review you can assume nothing has changed.