Add changelog text (#4662)

Author: kbx81

changelog/2025.2.0.rst

@@ -22,6 +22,72 @@ ESPHome 2025.2.0 - 19th February 2025
     Mixer Speaker, components/speaker/mixer, mixer.svg
     Resampler Speaker, components/speaker/resampler, waveform.svg, dark-invert
 
+**🎉 Happy New Year! 🎉**
+
+We're kicking off 2025 with a number of updates, several of which are focused on removing old code. Unfortunately,
+this means we have a few breaking changes, but this work helps keep ESPHome more maintainable in the long-run.
+
+Removal of "old style" Platform Configuration
+---------------------------------------------
+
+`Three years ago <https://github.com/esphome/esphome/pull/2303>`__, we added support for using
+`ESP-IDF <https://github.com/espressif/esp-idf/>`__ directly (as an alternative to Arduino). This brought about a
+number of benefits and a new syntax was introduced to facilitate greater flexibility when specifying and configuring
+your microcontroller/board.
+
+In this release, we've removed support for the "old style" of configuring your microcontroller/board. If you're still
+using it, you'll need to update your configurations to use the new style. A brief explanation is
+`here <https://github.com/esphome/esphome/pull/8118>`__, but for more detail, please see the
+:ref:`documentation for your microcontroller platform <devices>`.
+
+Removal of Custom Components
+----------------------------
+
+Custom components were deprecated over a year ago and, as promised, support for them was removed in this release. We
+encourage all developers to migrate their custom components to :doc:`/components/external_components`. Please see
+:ref:`a_note_about_custom_components` for a detailed explanation and next steps.
+
+Removal of ``armv7`` Docker Support
+-----------------------------------
+
+ESPHome no longer supports ``armv7`` hardware. This is due to both waning support as it relates to tooling and
+performance reasons. We strongly recommend moving to a more modern architecture, especially if you're using the ESPHome
+Device Builder to build/compile firmware for your devices.
+
+``esp32_rmt`` Updates
+---------------------
+
+Components which utilize the RMT hardware found on the ESP32 and its variants have been updated to use the new
+interface available in `ESP-IDF <https://github.com/espressif/esp-idf/>`__ versions 5 and above. This eliminates
+related warnings seen in the compiler logs while building ESPHome configurations. In most cases, you won't notice any
+difference, but this change could result in some issues, particularly for :doc:`/components/external_components`. You
+may need to make a minor change or two in your device configurations; the configuration validator will tell you if this
+is necessary as you update your devices.
+
+Audio Components
+----------------
+
+This release includes support for a number of new audio-related components/hardware. These are primarily aimed at
+supporting hardware found in Espressif's S3-Box series of products, eliminating the need to use the
+`ESP-ADF <https://github.com/espressif/esp-adf/>`__ and thus offering better integration with ESPHome in general. If
+you're using an S3-Box (or one of the variants), we strongly recommend updating your device either OTA or by using our
+:doc:`/projects/index` web installer. If you have "taken control" of or "adopted" your S3-Box, we strongly recommend
+updating your device's local configuration based on our updated configuration files found
+`here <https://github.com/esphome/wake-word-voice-assistants>`__.
+
+In addition, new ``speaker`` components have been introduced to provide more advanced functionality when using
+:doc:`/components/voice_assistant`. These components extend our work to help you create the ultimate personal voice
+assistant hardware.
+
+Image Components
+----------------
+
+This release adds support for alpha-blending images when using LVGL. To facilitate this, the ``use_transparency``
+configuration variable in :doc:`/components/image` and related components was renamed to ``transparency`` and changed
+from a boolean to an enum; in addition, the ``type`` configuration variable is now mandatory. See the
+:doc:`/components/image` documentation for more detail.
+
+Finally, the :doc:`/components/online_image` was updated to add support for both BMP and JPEG image formats.
 
 Full list of changes
 --------------------