So I finally broke down and picked up the BroadQ Qcast, though I got the one sold under the name GameShark Media Player. First off, I must say that now that I have this working it kicks ass. I pointed it at my laptop and it is playing a divx file over wireless. Pretty keen I must say. Also, it lets you install this on more than ones computer, so my G3 will definitely be running the server side of this soon for music.

Now, for the hell part. This software has the worst documentation/install process I've ever seen. In fact, if I didn't have a clue about how OS X does things I would never have been able to install this. Let's see. First, the documentation instructed me to put the server CD-ROM into my computer and copy the GSMP to my desktop. The problem, there's nothing that says it is GSMP. There's just a MacOS folder with a file called jinstall.zip. Not that big a deal, I can figure out what to do with that.

Next problem, the documentation says "First, click on and run GameShark Media Server to connect with our server(s) and allow updated software modules to download". Um, there is no GameShark Media Server to click on, just the zip file. Nowhere is there any mention of this. And, when I do unzip the file, all I get is an executable called JExpressInstaller, which quits as soon as I try running it. Wow, what great software! This is the point that someone who doesn't really know some of how things work on OS X would be sunk. There's nothing else to do. The one program you have to run doesn't do anything.

The solution, go in via command line. The way applications work on OS X is that they are folders with an extension of .app, and since I knew the app was in java (oh yeah, others might not know that. The only reason I know it is a friend has it). I found the jinstall.bin file, which was mentioned as the installer in the linux install instructions, and ran that. And after filling out where to install, it finishes up.

We won't get into the next stage where the buggy java code for the initial registration and setup fails do render any text in the forms you have to fill out (unless you go back and forward in the forms). Once I got it all set up though. It worked like a charm. It's just getting there was hell. I wonder how much of this is GameShark's fault and how much is BroadQ's. Oh yeah, the game is being supported by MadCatz, but there's pretty much no mention of it on their site. I know that I'll be posting to the support forums at BroadQ about this. But, for now, I watch some Hanaukyo Maids.