Hi, quick background then my question:
I am currently plowing away through a project that uses a 16c55 @ 4mhz takes
input of 2 pins each from 2 high precision encoders (PORTA), one encoder per
axis on a telescope, each encoder puts out about 4048 codes / revolution,
what I am doing is reading the encoder pins with the PIC and keeping track
of a 2 byte variable per axis (Right Ascention and Declination) as part of
the routine I am polling a pin from the LPT port that acts like an interrupt
to the PIC so that the 2 byte variable can be placed on the 0-3 pins of
PORTC one nibble at a time, (I am restricted to 4 pins to 0x379 for input to
the pc) then the pic goes back to tracking the transitions of each encoder,
 the goal for me here is to be able to manually rotate the telescope at a
reasonable rate and not loose accuracy as well as update my computer program
in quasi real time, for me a reasonable rate would be 90 degrees in 1 to 2
seconds which would be roughly 1012 codes per 1.5 seconds.

Question:
 given the above information does this sound like the proper way to approach
this project or is there a better / easier or more efficient way of
attaining my goal. Maybe I have missed something obvious?

Thanks very much in advance.
 -Russ