i want to add a timeout...

[maehhheeyy]

I want to add a timeout so that when I pull out my gps from my serial
port, it would wait for a bit then loop and then see if it's there. I
also want to add a print statement saying that there is no GPS device
found. However when I run my code and unplug my serial port, my code
will just hang until I plug it back in.
This is my code right now:

def GetGPS():
      data = []
      #Open com1: 9600,8,N,1
      fi = serial.Serial(0, timeout = 1)
      print '[gps module] SERIAL PORT OPEN ON COM1:'

can anyone help me please? Thanks.