Yup, you need either an Android or iOS device. If you just have a PC or a laptop you just can't use a Chromecast for some stupid reason.

At least it's better than Apple TV, which requires you to own a device from the exact same brand, but it's still a shitty requirement. They managed to implement setup from a PC before, what's stopping them from doing it again?

I suppose you could use any of the many Android emulators out there to get around this restriction but it shouldn't be necessary. This is just user hostile design.

There is literally a button in the link you provided saying how to do it on iOS also...

OMFSM my bad o_O. I'll never get used to Material design, hope it follows Metro soon...

The chromecast didn't have an actual UI to manage.

You used to be able to set it up via any device though not just Android/iPhone which made sense as more than just phones can use it. At least it's not just Pixels or something.

I've set it up with my iPhone.

You used to be able to set them up from the Chrome browser, back when Chromecast support was implemented via a browser extension and not baked in.

They completely gutted Chromecast support in Chrome quite a while ago, you can't even adjust the playback volume from your computer any more.

I wonder if they had to gut it due to the Sonos suit.

the volume adjustment feature disappearing was definitely in response to the sonos lawsuit