diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 4d85a03..50ea96b 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -45,7 +45,8 @@ KERNEL_OBJ := \
 	kern/libkern/panic.o \
 	kern/libkern/memory.o \
 	kern/libkern/spinlock.o \
-	kern/libkern/mini-printf.o
+	kern/libkern/mini-printf.o \
+	kern/libkern/stdio.o
 
 kern/kernel.elf: $(KERNEL_OBJ)
 	@echo LD $@
diff --git a/kern/libkern/uart.c b/kern/libkern/uart.c
index bb753f3..df0af5d 100644
--- a/kern/libkern/uart.c
+++ b/kern/libkern/uart.c
@@ -4,7 +4,3 @@
 void uart_putc(char c) {
     *UART_BASE = c;
 }
-
-void uart_puts(const char *s) {
-    while (*s) uart_putc(*s++);
-}
diff --git a/kern/libkern/uart.h b/kern/libkern/uart.h
index 953c5f6..8f08f1a 100644
--- a/kern/libkern/uart.h
+++ b/kern/libkern/uart.h
@@ -4,7 +4,4 @@
 /** Send a single character to the UART device */
 void uart_putc(char c);
 
-/** Send a **NULL TERMINATED** string to the UART device */
-void uart_puts(const char *s);
-
 #endif
diff --git a/kern/start.c b/kern/start.c
index e717064..15a224f 100644
--- a/kern/start.c
+++ b/kern/start.c
@@ -1,10 +1,12 @@
 #include <config.h>
 #include <kalloc.h>
 #include <memory.h>
+#include <panic.h>
 #include <proc.h>
 #include <riscv.h>
 #include <spinlock.h>
 #include <stdint.h>
+#include <stdio.h>
 #include <uart.h>
 
 /**
@@ -37,30 +39,24 @@ void start() {
     if (id == 0) {
         /* Here we will do a bunch of initialization steps */
         kalloc_init();
-        uart_puts("Hello Neptune!\n");
         spinlock_init(&sl);
+        kprintf("Hello Neptune!\n");
+
+        __sync_synchronize();
         hold = 0;
     } else {
         while (hold);
     }
 
-    // spin_lock(&sl);
-    //
-    // uart_puts("Hart number: ");
-    // uart_putc(id + '0');
-    // uart_putc('\n');
-    //
-    // spin_unlock(&sl);
-
     if (id == 0) {
         spin_lock(&sl);
-        uart_puts("Core count: ");
-        uart_putc(max_hart + '0');
-        uart_putc('\n');
-        if (max_hart == NCPU) {
-            uart_puts("All cores up!");
-            uart_putc('\n');
-        }
+        kprintf("Core count: %d\n", max_hart);
+
+        if (max_hart == NCPU)
+            kprintf("All cores up!\n");
+        else
+            PANIC("Some cores seem to have been enumerated incorrectly!\n");
+
         spin_unlock(&sl);
     }