Cant seem to save the configuration, ie the bar goes on top not the bottom, and where do I get the applications that are "missing" off the right mouse click dialog? Like configurationa dn whatnot? And what "other" window manager is there for it?

Are you editing your .icewm file with vi? If so are you saving the file? http://www.cs.rit.edu/~cslab/vi.html has a list of vi commands. To save and quit vi use the command. I have used xfce4 under X/Qt debian. I described the process on how to get it up and running in this thread http://www.oesf.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=13536

Any window manager will do if its in the debian arm repositories. you can find the list of them using the in a terminal under debian. You can also fill in the missing programs with a similar search using the apt-cache command. you dont need to be root to use the apt-cache command. but you will need to be root to install new programs via apt-get.

For example you can even install gnome but anything heavier than xfce4 will probably be unusable.

Good Luck