--- /dev/null
+++ b/arch/mips/ar231x/early_printk.c
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+/*
+ * This file is subject to the terms and conditions of the GNU General Public
+ * License.  See the file "COPYING" in the main directory of this archive
+ * for more details.
+ *
+ * Copyright (C) 2010 Gabor Juhos <juhosg@openwrt.org>
+ */
+
+#include <linux/mm.h>
+#include <linux/io.h>
+#include <linux/serial_reg.h>
+#include <asm/addrspace.h>
+
+#include <asm/mach-ar231x/ar2315_regs.h>
+#include <asm/mach-ar231x/ar5312_regs.h>
+#include "devices.h"
+
+static inline void prom_uart_wr(void __iomem *base, unsigned reg,
+				unsigned char ch)
+{
+	__raw_writeb(ch, base + 4 * reg);
+}
+
+static inline unsigned char prom_uart_rr(void __iomem *base, unsigned reg)
+{
+	return __raw_readb(base + 4 * reg);
+}
+
+void prom_putchar(unsigned char ch)
+{
+	static void __iomem *base;
+
+	if (unlikely(base == NULL)) {
+		if (is_2315())
+			base = (void __iomem *)(KSEG1ADDR(AR2315_UART0));
+		else
+			base = (void __iomem *)(KSEG1ADDR(AR531X_UART0));
+	}
+
+	while ((prom_uart_rr(base, UART_LSR) & UART_LSR_THRE) == 0);
+	prom_uart_wr(base, UART_TX, ch);
+	while ((prom_uart_rr(base, UART_LSR) & UART_LSR_THRE) == 0);
+}
+
--- a/arch/mips/ar231x/Makefile
+++ b/arch/mips/ar231x/Makefile
@@ -9,5 +9,8 @@
 #
 
 obj-y += board.o prom.o devices.o
+
+obj-$(CONFIG_EARLY_PRINTK) += early_printk.o
+
 obj-$(CONFIG_ATHEROS_AR5312) += ar5312.o
 obj-$(CONFIG_ATHEROS_AR2315) += ar2315.o
--- a/arch/mips/Kconfig
+++ b/arch/mips/Kconfig
@@ -145,6 +145,7 @@ config ATHEROS_AR231X
 	select SYS_SUPPORTS_BIG_ENDIAN
 	select SYS_SUPPORTS_32BIT_KERNEL
 	select ARCH_REQUIRE_GPIOLIB
+	select SYS_HAS_EARLY_PRINTK
 	help
 	  Support for AR231x and AR531x based boards