Apple ProDOS 8 Apple ProDOS 8

Apple ProDOS 8: Release Details

On August 1st, 1983, Apple released ProDOS 8, a disk operating system specifically developed for the Apple II computer series. The release marked a significant milestone for the company, as ProDOS 8 quickly became the most popular operating system for the Apple II series of computers.

ProDOS, which stood for Professional Disk Operating System, was the last official operating system that could be used by all 8-bit Apple II series computers. It was distributed until May 6th, 1993, and was a significant improvement over its predecessor, Apple DOS.

Apple DOS, which was simply known as DOS, had begun to show its age by the early 1980s. It only had built-in support for 5.25″ floppy disks and required patches to use peripheral devices such as hard disk drives and non-Disk II floppy disk drives, including 3.5″ floppy drives.

ProDOS 8 addressed these shortcomings by introducing a standard method of accessing ROM-based drivers on expansion cards for disk devices. It also expanded the maximum volume size from about 400 kilobytes to 32 megabytes and added support for hierarchical subdirectories, a vital feature for organizing a hard disk’s storage space. Additionally, ProDOS 8 supported RAM disks on machines with 128KB or more of memory.

Today, Apple ProDOS 8 is 40 years old and remains a significant piece of Apple’s history. Its release marked a turning point for the company, as it paved the way for the development of more advanced and powerful operating systems for the Apple II series of computers.

Apple IIe with ProDOS
Source: twitter.com – Apple IIe with ProDOS

Apple ProDOS 8 Details

ReleasedAugust 1, 1983
DiscontinuedMay 6, 1993
System RequirementsApple II computer
DistributionFloppy disk

ProDOS Versions

ProDOS VersionRelease Date
ProDOS 1.0August 1, 1983
ProDOS 1.0September 1, 1983
ProDOS 1.0October 1, 1983
ProDOS 1.0November 1, 1983
ProDOS 1.0.1January 1, 1984
ProDOS 1.0.2February 15, 1984
ProDOS 1.1August 17, 1984
ProDOS 1.1.1September 18, 1984
ProDOS 8 1.2September 6, 1986
ProDOS 8 1.3December 2, 1986
ProDOS 8 1.4April 17, 1987
ProDOS 8 1.5April 2, 1988
ProDOS 8 1.6June 14, 1988
ProDOS 8 1.7August 8, 1988
ProDOS 8 1.8May 23, 1989
ProDOS 8 1.9July 16, 1990
ProDOS 8 2.0January 22, 1992
ProDOS 8 2.0.1March 4, 1992
ProDOS 8 2.0.2November 2, 1992
ProDOS 8 2.0.3May 6, 1993

ProDOS BASIC Versions

BASIC System versionsRelease Date
ProDOS BASIC 1.0September 1, 1983
ProDOS BASIC 1.0November 15, 1983
ProDOS BASIC 1.1June 18, 1984
ProDOS BASIC 1.2December 14, 1987
ProDOS BASIC 1.3June 17, 1989
ProDOS BASIC 1.4August 1, 1989
ProDOS BASIC 1.4.1July 17, 1990
ProDOS BASIC 1.5May 6, 1993

Further Reading and References

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Disclaimer: The data presented in this article is under continuous development and has been manually collected from various sources based on their availability. The author of this article may revise this dataset as additional research is conducted and reviewed. Please note that the information is provided “as is” and “as available” without express or implied warranties. The author cannot be held responsible for any omissions, inaccuracies, or errors in the published information. Any warranties relating to this information are hereby disclaimed.

Last updated: March 7, 2023