diff --git a/IPython/core/ultratb.py b/IPython/core/ultratb.py
index 404559f..d5b3e22 100644
--- a/IPython/core/ultratb.py
+++ b/IPython/core/ultratb.py
@@ -385,7 +385,8 @@ class ListTB(TBTools):
         
     def __call__(self, etype, value, elist):
         Term.cout.flush()
-        Term.cerr.writeln(self.text(etype,value,elist))
+        Term.cerr.write(self.text(etype,value,elist))
+        Term.cerr.write('\n')
 
     def text(self, etype, value, elist, context=5):
         """Return a color formatted string with the traceback info.
@@ -910,7 +911,8 @@ class VerboseTB(TBTools):
         (etype, evalue, etb) = info or sys.exc_info()
         self.tb = etb
         Term.cout.flush()
-        Term.cerr.writeln(self.text(etype, evalue, etb))
+        Term.cerr.write(self.text(etype, evalue, etb))
+        Term.cerr.write('\n')
 
     # Changed so an instance can just be called as VerboseTB_inst() and print
     # out the right info on its own.
diff --git a/IPython/utils/io.py b/IPython/utils/io.py
index c9bdd5f..30408e2 100644
--- a/IPython/utils/io.py
+++ b/IPython/utils/io.py
@@ -47,10 +47,10 @@ class IOStream:
                 print >> sys.stderr, \
                       'ERROR - failed to write data to stream:', self.stream
 
-    def writeln(self, data):
-        self.write(data)
-        self.write('\n')        
-                
+    # This class used to have a writeln method, but regular files and streams
+    # in Python don't have this method. We need to keep this completely
+    # compatible so we removed it.
+
     def close(self):
         pass