  We have implemented a cost-effective design for the readout electronics of
both the anode wires and the cathode pads of large area proportional wire
chambers for the HERA-B muon system based on the ASD-08 integrated circuit. To
control and monitor the large number of readout channels, we have built a
distributed control system based on Philips Semiconductors' I2C bus and
microcontrollers. To date we have installed about 10800 channels of muon
chambers and electronics. The average single channel noise occupancy is less
than 10**-5, and the detectors have been operated with target interaction rates
as high as 70 MHz.
