Timeout on file write?

[Chris Farley]

I'm working on a cross-platform Python program that prints to a receipt 
printer.  The code is simple, I just do something like this:

printer = file('/dev/lp0','w')          # on Win32, change to 'lpt1'
p.write("whatever")
p.close()


I would like to gracefully handle situations such as when the paper is out 
or the printer is powered off. Right now the program just hangs.

Suggestions? Thanks...